Literature, Science, and Public Policy: From Darwin to Genomics

Jay Clayton

doi:10.1017/9781009263504

Literature, Science, and Public Policy

From Darwin to Genomics

- You have access
- Open access

Jay Clayton, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee

Publisher:: Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:: August 2023
Print publication year:: 2023
Online ISBN:: 9781009263504
DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009263504
Creative Commons:: This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/creativelicenses

Subjects:: Literature, Literary Theory, English Literature 1900-1945

Information

Contents

Metrics

Literature, Science, and Public Policy shows how literature can influence public policy concerning scientific controversies in genetics and other areas. Literature brings unique insights to issues involving cloning, GMOs, gene editing, and more by dramatizing their full human complexity. Literature's value for public policy is demonstrated by striking examples that range from the literary response to evolution in the Victorian era through the modern synthesis of evolution and genetics in the mid-twentieth century to present-day genomics. Outlining practical steps for humanists who want to help shape public policy, this book offers vivid readings of novels by H. G. Wells, H. Rider Haggard, Aldous Huxley, Robert Heinlein, Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, David Mitchell, Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro, Gary Shteyngart, and others that illustrate the important insights that literary studies can bring to debates about science and society. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

‘Jay Clayton has provided a state-of-the-art toolkit for humanities scholars engaging with policy, but also for their Deans, PVCs, Vice-Chancellors, and funding bodies who support interdisciplinary research and outward-facing institutions. Clayton's expert knowledge of literary history and lifelong collaborations in science and technology will be of interest to anyone who wants informed opinion on literature and science, evolution, epigenetics, the modern synthesis, and genomics.'

Regenia Gagnier - University of Exeter

‘Both science itself and related policy rely implicitly on narratives embedded in time - narratives that both summarize the relevant actions of the past and forecast a version of the future. But neither policy advisers nor scientists tend to be particularly mindful of the essentials of storytelling …. This is what the American academic Jay Clayton seeks to change in his coherently argued book.’

Pippa Goldschmidt Source: The Times Literary Supplement

- Aa Reduce text
- Aa Enlarge text

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services