Under the Literary Microscope Science and Society in the Contemporary Novel

• Main Author: Sina Farzin, Susan M. Gaines, Roslynn D. Haynes
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: University Park, PA Penn State University Press 2021; Pennsylvania State University Press
• Edition: 1
• Series: AnthropoScene: The SLSA Book Series
• Subjects: Barbara Kingsolver; contemporary fiction; cultural studies; dystopia; economization of science; Ian McIwan; Jenny Rohn; Lab-lit; LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century; LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 21st Century; LITERARY CRITICISM / Science Fiction & Fantasy; LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / General; literary studies; literature and science; Margaret Atwood; Richard Powers; risk society; science and culture; science and literature; science and technology studies; science communication; science fiction; Science fiction-History and criticism; science in society; scientific fraud; scientists in fiction; sociology of literature; sociology of science; speculative fiction; Susan M. Gaines; utopia; speculative fiction; science in society; literary studies; Jenny Rohn; science and literature; economization of science; scientists in fiction; sociology of literature; Richard Powers; Barbara Kingsolver; science fiction; scientific fraud; science and technology studies; utopia; science and culture; sociology of science; Susan M. Gaines; science communication; Lab-lit; literature and science; dystopia; contemporary fiction; risk society; cultural studies; Ian McIwan; Margaret Atwood
• ISBN: 0271090138; 9780271090139; 9780271089782; 0271089784
• DOI: 10.1515/9780271090139

"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.