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Reading sleep through science fiction : the parable of beggars and choosers
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Steinberg, Deborah Lynn (2008) Reading sleep through science fiction : the parable of beggars and choosers. Body & Society, Vol.14 (No.4, Sp. Iss.). pp. 115-135. doi:10.1177/1357034X08096898
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1357034X08096898
Abstract
This article examines the iconic 'Beggars' trilogy by feminist science fiction writer, Nancy Kress. These novels, produced in the early to mid-1990s, take as their 'thought experiment' two points of rupture and contemporary cultural contestation: the advent of human genetic engineering and sleep, or, more specifically, the prospect of a sleepless society. I shall begin by situating my analysis of the Kress trilogy in this nexus of fields. I shall consider the interest of Kress's works for the sociology of sleep as well as for a cultural analysis of science. In this context, and drawing in part on the work of Haran, I will suggest the particular value of science fiction as not only a site for, but also a source of, narrativized social theory. I shall introduce the notion of popular episteme as an analytic concept that aims to link the discursive to the social - that is, to theorize the relationship of textuality to materiality. I shall refer also to the psychoanalytic concept of 'phantasy' as a point of convergence for both structures of feeling and structures of knowledge. I shall then introduce the Kress works, focusing particularly on the first novel Beggars in Spain, locating it in a period in which feminist science fiction saw a marked renaissance, and in which speculative theorizations of genetics formed a distinct subgenre. The analysis will then focus on three core themes emergent in the novels that, I shall argue, have profound contemporaneous resonance. These are the questions of: embodied capital; the political economy of what I will term fast time; and paranoia and the human condition.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HM Sociology P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) P Language and Literature > PS American literature |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology | ||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Feminism in literature -- History and criticism, Science fiction, American -- History and criticism, Kress, Nancy -- Criticism and interpretation, Paranoia in literature, Sleep in literature, Genetic engineering in literature | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Body & Society | ||||
| Publisher: | Sage Publications Ltd. | ||||
| ISSN: | 1357-034X | ||||
| Official Date: | December 2008 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Vol.14 | ||||
| Number: | No.4, Sp. Iss. | ||||
| Number of Pages: | 21 | ||||
| Page Range: | pp. 115-135 | ||||
| DOI: | 10.1177/1357034X08096898 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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