Ishmael is a 1992

1992 in literature

The year 1992 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Ben Aaronovitch - Transit*Julia Álvarez - How the García Girls Lost Their Accents*Paul Auster - Leviathan*Iain Banks - The Crow Road...

 philosophical novel

Philosophical novel

Philosophical fiction refers to works of fiction in which a significant proportion of the work is devoted to a discussion of the sort of questions normally addressed in discursive philosophy. These might include the function and role of society, the purpose of life, ethics or morals, the role of...

  by Daniel Quinn

Daniel Quinn

Daniel Quinn is an American writer described as an environmentalist. He is best known for his book Ishmael , which won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award in 1991....

. It examines mythology

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

, its effect on ethics, and how that relates to sustainability

Sustainability

Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

. The novel uses a style of Socratic dialogue

Socratic dialogue

Socratic dialogue is a genre of prose literary works developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC, preserved today in the dialogues of Plato and the Socratic works of Xenophon - either dramatic or narrative - in which characters discuss moral and philosophical problems, illustrating a...

 to deconstruct the notion that humans are the end product, the pinnacle of biological evolution. It posits that human supremacy

Anthropocentrism

Anthropocentrism describes the tendency for human beings to regard themselves as the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective....

 is a cultural myth, and asserts that modern civilization is enacting that myth.

Ishmael was awarded the $500,000 Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award

Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award

The Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award was created in 1989 by Ted Turner, to be awarded to an unpublished work of fiction offering creative and positive solutions to global problems. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn won the award in 1991, which will not be awarded again, and was selected out of 2500 entries...

. It is the first book to be published in what is considered a trilogy

Trilogy

A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...

, including a 1996 spiritual prequel, The Story of B

The Story of B

The Story of B is a 1996 novel written by Daniel Quinn and published by Bantam Publishing. It chronicles a young priest's movement away from his religion and toward the teachings of a mysterious preacher named B, expanding upon many of the philosophical ideas introduced in Quinn's 1992 novel Ishmael...

, and a 1997 sidequel, My Ishmael

My Ishmael

My Ishmael is a sidequel to Ishmael and a sequel to The Story of B, both also by Daniel Quinn . Its plot revolves around a gorilla named Ishmael who describes his philosophy regarding tribal society to Julie, a twelve-year-old girl.-Plot summary:...

.