DNA is an intrinsic part of the working system of the body. These basic units of creation adhere to rules of operation, replication, organization, and are implicated in the maintenance of a delicate system. When cells mutate, when foreign agents such as viruses infiltrate or are introduced into the body, the assault is on the cellular level. It is from this point that we can trace the escalation of symptoms and effects.This project examined how the scientific language of genetics and epidemiology can be used to read a literary narrative as a body. Narrative is a system that replicates, moves and maintains itself much as cells and bodies do. Assaults upon and interventions into teleology, subjectivity and conventions of realism by the postmodern are seen in terms of mutations and viral invasions. Literature as a product of late twentieth century culture represents a physical emission of the reading subject's fear of infection, invasion, and the instability of the body. The project involved reading the inner narrative structure of a text as DNA and examining the exterior consumption of a cultural text in terms of its similarities to the transmission of a virus. This project enunciated a theoretical paradigm that used scientific language to examine the matrix of interaction between text, reader, and culture as it exists in a climate of threat, as bodies under siege. / Department of English
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/185542 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Bruce, Wendy K. |
| Contributors | Ball State University. Dept. of English., White, Patricia S. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 40 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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