Sex, Death and Resurrection in Altered Carbon: Essays on the Netflix Series

The 2018 Netflix series Altered Carbon is a vital contribution to the cyberpunk renaissance, among such titles as Snowpiercer or Blade Runner 2049. This collection tries to answer the question: is this increasing popularity of cyberpunk a sign of recognition of the genre's transgressive aspects, such as a stark critique of capitalism, or is it the opposite: a sign of the genre's failure to successfully criticize modernity? This collection considers the series to be substantially relevant, taking on a plethora of current issues, from the critique of neoliberalism, through the ethical aspects of biotechnology, up to thanatology. It provokes questions about what it means to be human in a world in which death does not exist. These essayists evaluate the surging popularity of the series and cyberpunk at large from a variety of critical perspectives, shedding new light on a challenging and inventive series.

Aldona Kobus is a professor in the department of cultural studies at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. She specializes in fan studies, popular culture studies and research concerning women’s authorship. Lukasz Muniowski (Ph.D., American literature, University of Warsaw) has written numerous articles on such topics as gentrification, geek culture, American literature, video games and television series.