Under the Literary Microscope: Science and Society in the Contemporary Novel

Description

"Science in fiction," "geek novels," "lab-lit"-whatever one calls them, a new generation of science novels has opened a space in which the reading public can experience and think about the powers of science to illuminate nature as well as to generate and mitigate social change and risks. Under the Literary Microscope examines the implications of the discourse taking place in and around this creative space. Exploring works by authors as disparate as Barbara Kingsolver, Richard Powers, Ian McEwan, Ann Patchett, Margaret Atwood, and Michael Crichton, these essays address the economization of scientific institutions; ethics, risk, and gender disparity in scientific work; the reshaping of old stereotypes of scientists; science in an evolving sci-fi genre; and reader reception and potential contributions of the novels to public understandings of science. Under the Literary Microscope illuminates the new ways in which fiction has been grappling with scientific issues-from climate change and pandemics to artificial intelligence and genomics-and makes a valuable addition to both contemporary literature and science studies courses. In addition to the editors, the contributors include Anna Auguscik, Jay Clayton, Carol Colatrella, Sonja Fücker, Raymond Haynes, Luz María Hernández Nieto, Emanuel Herold, Karin Hoepker, Anton Kirchhofer, Antje Kley, Natalie Roxburgh, Uwe Schimank, Sherryl Vint, and Peter Weingart. COVER Front Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Science and Society in Recent Fiction Chapter 2: From Individual to Collective Knowledge Production A Brief Nonfi ction History Chapter 3: Between Mad and Mundane Mixed Stereotypical and Realistic Portrayals of Science in Contemporary Fiction Media Chapter 4: Scientists at Risk Chapter 5: Speculative Fiction and the Signifi cance of Plausibility Dystopian Science in the Critical Responseto Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake Chapter 6: When the Scientist Is a Woman Novels and Feminist Science Studies Chapter 7: Economization of Science Insights from Science Novels Chapter 8: The Science Fiction of Technological Modernity Images of Science in Recent Science Fiction Chapter 9: Unruly Creatures, Obstinate Things Bio-Objects and Scientific Knowledge Production in Contemporary Science Fiction Chapter 10: A Fictional Risk Narrative and Its Potential for Social Resonance Reception of Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior in Reviews and Reading Groups Index