Narrative in the age of the genome : genetic worlds

"This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by the Wellcome Trust. Genomic technologies have had a profound impact on understandings of what it means to be human and our links to the world we inhabit, and on practices of inhabiting the world. This book considers this impact across a range of literary forms, cultural practices, and political imaginaries, and argues that new descriptions of biological value introduced through practices of genomic sequencing from the late 1970s registered a broader crisis of narrative form. Examining a wide range of texts by Doris Lessing, Samuel Delany, Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Kir Bulychev, Kazuo Ishiguro, Saidiya Hartman, Yaa Gyasi, Svetlana Alexievich, and Jeff VanderMeer, Narrative in the Age of the Genome casts new light on the intersections of genomics with politics of racism, sexuality, labour and gender, neoliberal economics and environmental crisis."-- Provided by publisher Chapter 1: Deindustrialisation and the selfish gene. Gene and strike ; Overpopulation and whiteness: Doris Lessing's The memoirs of a survivor brackets and choice: Samuel Delany's Trouble on triton -- Chapter 2. Cultivating dreamworlds. Mutual aid cultivating humans ; The Fifth Problem: Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's Roadside picnic genogeography: Kir Bulychev's "Another's memory" -- Chapter 3. Memoir and the laboratory. Metaphors of the human genome project ; Welfare, profit, and the vitruvian man ; Ending development: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never let me go ; Algorithmic governmentality in Andrew Niccols's Gattaca -- Chapter 4. Speculative ancestry. Ancestry making ; Genre, genetics, and genealogy ; Henrietta Lacks and stolen flesh ; Reparation, romance, and kinlessness ; Leaving: Saidiya Hartman's Lose your mother ; Staying: Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing -- Chapter 5. Toxic infrastructure. Chernobyl and the postgenomic condition ; Adaptation, improvisation, and epigenetics ; Mutation and fragmentation: Svetlana Alexievich's Chernobyl prayer ; Transitional characterisation: Jeff VanderMeer's Southern reach trilogy -- Conclusion: Disappearance, community, characterisation, genre, and scale Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Series preface Introduction Chapter 1: Deindustrialization and the selfish gene Gene and strike Overpopulation and whiteness in The Memoirs of a Survivor Brackets and choice: Samuel Delany’s Trouble on Triton Chapter 2: Cultivating dreamworlds Mutual aid Cultivating humans The Fifth Problem in Roadside Picnic Genogeography and Kir Bulychev’s ‘Another’s Memory’ Chapter 3: Memoir and the laboratory Metaphors of the Human Genome Project Welfare, profit and ethics: The Vitruvian Man Never Let Me Go and the end of development Gattaca and algorithmic governmentality Chapter 4: Speculative ancestry Ancestry-making Genre, genetics and genealogy Henrietta Lacks and stolen flesh Reparation, romance and kinlessness Leaving: Saidiya Hartman’s Lose Your Mother Staying: Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing Chapter 5: Toxic infrastructure Chernobyl and the postgenomic condition Adaptation, improvisation and epigenetics Mutation and fragmentation in Chernobyl Prayer Transitional characterization in the Southern Reach trilogy Disappearance, community, characterization, genre and scale Works cited Index Shortlisted for the 2021 BSLS Book Prize Genomic technologies have had a profound impact on understandings of what it means to be human and our links to the world we inhabit, and on practices of inhabiting the world. This open access book considers this impact across a range of literary forms, cultural practices, and political imaginaries, and argues that new descriptions of biological value introduced through practices of genomic sequencing from the late 1970s registered a broader crisis of narrative form. Examining a wide range of texts by Doris Lessing, Samuel Delany, Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Kir Bulychev, Kazuo Ishiguro, Saidiya Hartman, Yaa Gyasi, Svetlana Alexievich, and Jeff VanderMeer, Narrative in the Age of the Genome casts new light on the intersections of genomics with politics of racism, sexuality, labour and gender, neoliberal economics and environmental crisis. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The Wellcome Trust