'See below the surface of the waves': Blue Anti-Human Exceptionalism in Richard Powers’ "Playground"

Abstract

This article analyzes the literary expression of blue anti-human exceptionalism in Richard Powers’ novel Playground (2024). I argue that the novel deconstructs human exceptionalism, staging three parallel strategies. First, contrary to much maritime literature from the 19^th and 20^th centuries, it focuses on the very materiality of the ocean and the vividness of submarine life, thus making oceanic life visible.  Second, it humanizes oceanic organisms by comparing their attitudes to those of humans and translating their language into human-understandable terms. Moreover, the novel shows that submarine organisms are much more similar to humans than they think. For example, it highlights mantas’, cuttlefishes’, and sea otters’ capacities for play, perception, and maternal care. At the same time, Playground depicts oceanic species, marked by features that make them unique. It often resorts to the ecological sublime by staging the semantic fields of amazement and incomprehensibility concerning many underwater mechanisms. In this way, the novel shows that humans cannot demand to understand any aspect of non-human life.