Born of Necessity: Alien Partners and Actor-Networks in Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary
Keywords:
science fiction, sf, alien, first-contact, Actor-Network Theory, ANT, Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary, discourse of science, science and technology studies, cooperation, assemblage, partnership, matters of concernAbstract
Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary (2021) is an atypical science fiction novel about the first-contact between a human and an intelligent alien being. Rather than engaging in conflict the protagonists set up a close partnership that overrides otherness. The paper investigates the mechanics of this unlikely partnership in the light of Actor-Network theory. The poignant presence of a shared matter of concern compels the principal actors in the narrative to assemble elaborate networks of cooperation through a series of expedient strategies. The paper further identifies these strategies as translational movements involved in the performance of an actor-network.
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