The paper investigates E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops” (1909) in connection with the symptomatic ways this visionary dystopian tale is being re-read in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Forster depicts a futuristic world-state where each citizen is confined to an underground cell and is only allowed to (tele)communicate through an advanced-technology network, with a deified Machine operating like a centralised computer system and service provider. Moreover, people are required to comply with drastic measures of social distancing in a seemingly prolonged state of health emergency. Such a portrayal of an eerily possible world cannot but raise crucial issues within our ‘new normalcy’ scenario.
Il contributo prende in esame “The Machine Stops” (1909) di E.M. Forster in relazione a come questo racconto distopico-visionario è stato sintomaticamente riletto nel contesto della pandemia di Covid-19. Forster dipinge un futuristico stato-nazione dove ogni cittadino è confinato in una cella sotterranea ed è in grado di comunicare solo attraverso una rete tecnologica avanzata, grazie a una Macchina deificata che opera come un sistema computeristico centralizzato e un fornitore di servizi. Le persone devono inoltre rispettare misure drastiche di distanziamento sociale in una condizione di prolungata emergenza sanitaria. Questo quadro di un mondo sinistramente possibile non può che sollevare questioni cruciali nello scenario contemporaneo della ‘nuova normalità’.
Predicting the ‘New Normal’: Teleconnection and the Regime of Social Distancing in E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”
Giovannelli Laura
2021-01-01
Abstract
The paper investigates E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops” (1909) in connection with the symptomatic ways this visionary dystopian tale is being re-read in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Forster depicts a futuristic world-state where each citizen is confined to an underground cell and is only allowed to (tele)communicate through an advanced-technology network, with a deified Machine operating like a centralised computer system and service provider. Moreover, people are required to comply with drastic measures of social distancing in a seemingly prolonged state of health emergency. Such a portrayal of an eerily possible world cannot but raise crucial issues within our ‘new normalcy’ scenario.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.