"A butcher's shop where the meat still moved": Gothic doubles, organ harvesting and human cloning.

Wasson, Sara-Patricia

Abstract

This timely book explores what might be termed Gothic science fiction of the last three decades, 1980-2010. Identifying texts by this category may at first appear contradictory, as the Gothic's connotations of the irrational and supernatural seems to conflict with science fiction's rational foundations. However, this collection demonstrates that the two categories have rich intersections. Applying such a category to texts of this period permits fresh examination of their engagement with the dramatic socio-economic changes accompanying these years: changes in communication technology, medical science, globalization, and global politics have transformed the way we live, and Gothic science fiction identifies narrative modes appropriate to this modern world. The Gothic mode images readily in science fiction that explores power, anxiety, resistance and capital. The essays in this collection reflect the current willingness among researchers to explore interpretations across genre, form, and discipline, as well as revealing a buoyant field of research in contemporary Gothic and science fiction studies. This collection ranges across narrative media - in the form of literature, film, graphic novels, trading card games - and across genre - in the form of horror, science fiction, Gothic, New Weird and more. The essays explore questions of genre, medical science, gender, biopower, capitalism, with Gothic science fiction texts understood as uniquely inflected for their time and place.

Citation

Wasson, S. (2011). "A butcher's shop where the meat still moved": Gothic doubles, organ harvesting and human cloning. In S. Wasson, & E. Alder (Eds.), Gothic Science Fiction 1980-2010 (73-86). Liverpool University Press. https://doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781846317071.003.0005

• Publication Date: 2011
• Deposit Date: Apr 4, 2012
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 73-86
• Book Title: Gothic Science Fiction 1980-2010
• ISBN: 9781846317071
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781846317071.003.0005
• Keywords: Gothic doubles; cloning; organ harvesting
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/5194
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781846317071.003.0005