Nonhuman Encounters: Tentacular Narration and Weird Entanglements as Posthuman Revisions of Knowledge Frameworks in Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea

Teodorescu R, Teodorescu R (2026)


Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes

Publication year: 2026

Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag

Edited Volumes: In the Web – Theorien und Praktiken posthumanistischen Erzählens / Theories and Practices of Posthumanist Narration

Series: Post:Narratology

City/Town: Stuttgart

Book Volume: 1

Pages Range: 231-248

ISBN: 978-3-515-13833-8

URI: https://www.steiner-verlag.de/In-the-Web/9783515138338

DOI: 10.25162/9783515138383

Open Access Link: https://www.steiner-verlag.de/In-the-Web/9783515138383

Abstract

This article examines a tentacular mode of narration in Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea (2022). The narrated interspecies communication exposes the limits of our perceived spheres of interaction and illustrates how subjective experience constitutes the worlds we perceive and bring forth. The central motif of the octopus serves to “weird” anthropocentric perspectives by emphasizing the subjective experiences and diverse environments of non-human entities. The novel advocates for a post-anthropocentric reevaluation of human-centered frameworks of knowledge.

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APA:

Teodorescu, R., & Teodorescu, R. (2026). Nonhuman Encounters: Tentacular Narration and Weird Entanglements as Posthuman Revisions of Knowledge Frameworks in Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea. In Charlotte Coch and Ronald Röttel (Eds.), In the Web – Theorien und Praktiken posthumanistischen Erzählens / Theories and Practices of Posthumanist Narration. (pp. 231-248). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.

MLA:

Teodorescu, Ruxandra, and Ruxandra Teodorescu. "Nonhuman Encounters: Tentacular Narration and Weird Entanglements as Posthuman Revisions of Knowledge Frameworks in Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea." In the Web – Theorien und Praktiken posthumanistischen Erzählens / Theories and Practices of Posthumanist Narration. Ed. Charlotte Coch and Ronald Röttel, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2026. 231-248.

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