Ruined Skin: Gothic Genetics and Human Identity in Stephen Donaldson’s Gap cycle

Alder, Emily

Abstract

This chapter offers a literary criticism of Stephen Donaldson's novel Gap. It discusses that transfiguration of the body, through the study of molecular biology and genetic engineering, creates a cultural unrest and horror. The strange metamorphosis of the human flesh puts the human identity into uncertainty as the abhumanity of interstitial alien/human bodies assails normative cognitions of human shape.

Citation

Alder, E. (2011). Ruined Skin: Gothic Genetics and Human Identity in Stephen Donaldson’s Gap cycle. In S.-P. Wasson, & E. Alder (Eds.), Gothic Science Fiction 1980-2010. Liverpool University Press. https://doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781846317071.003.0008

• Publication Date: 2011
• Deposit Date: Sep 18, 2013
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Gothic Science Fiction 1980-2010
• ISBN: 978-1846317071
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781846317071.003.0008
• Keywords: Gothic literature; science fiction; Stephen Donaldson; Gap cycle; genetic engineering
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/6316