THE VICTORIAN MACHINE AS THE THREATENING OTHER IN SAMUEL BUTLER'S EREWHON (1872)

The emergence of machines in the Victorian society aroused mixed feelings of pride and anxiety. Samuel Butler shared this ambiguity. In his dystopian narrative, Erewhon, machines became full-fledged characters in a non-metaphorical way. Machines embodied absolute Otherness. This upsetting or even nightmarish irruption of Otherness results in the deconstruction of the Self and the dissolution of identity. 'Who can draw any line?', the narrator asks as the borders separating Nature's three kingdoms seem to be definitely blurred. No wonder that this amazingly revolutionary text was hailed by modern critiques as a piece of visionary fiction.