Topics

Genetics in Literature

English 273 - Spring 2003

Jay Clayton, Vanderbilt University

Ideas for a collaborative semester long class project, which would count instead of the two papers:

Create a web site exploring some aspect of genetics and culture. Your web site should analyze or illustrate one or more of the texts we have read this semester.

Make a short digital movie or a Flash presentation that illuminates one of the books, movies we have studied.

Do a multimedia project in some other format.

If you are interested in pursuing one of these topics, or any other term-long project, please see me to discuss your plans.

First paper (5 pages). Submit your paper to Prometheus (Files module, Jay Clayton's Inbox). Name the file you upload as follows: "Lastname - Paper 1"

Choose one of the following topics:

1. Write a comparative analysis of scenes from the two following movies. Your discussion should focus on a single motif, scene, character, or topic from each film and not attempt to cover the entire works. Be sure to discuss not only the content of the two scenes but the relevant cinematic techniques and structural questions raised by your subject. Bring in perspectives from the reading wherever possible.

Gattaca (1997), Andrew Niccol, dir.

Ridley Scott (dir.), Blade Runner (1982; Director's Cut, 1992)

2. Discuss Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) in relation to Francis Galton's "Hereditary Talent and Character" (1865). Compare and contrast the authors' attitudes toward one or (at most) two important social questions, such as gender, work, reproduction, race, nationality, class, religion, science, etc.

3. Compare and contrast Huxley's "A Note on Eugenics" and J. B. S. Haldane's "Daedalus, or, Science and the Future" (1923).

4. Compare and contrast Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with Steven Spielberg, (dir.), Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001).

5. Discuss the representation of "savages" or natives in Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle, Ch. 10 and Huxley's Brave New World.

6. Analyze the depiction of women in two of the following Andrea Barrett stories: "The Behavior of the Hawkweeds," "The Littoral Zone," and "Rare Bird."

Second paper (5 pages). Submit your paper to Prometheus (Files module, Jay Clayton's Inbox). Name the file you upload as follows: "Lastname - Paper 1"

Choose one of the following topics:

1. Discuss Richard Lewontin's"Gene and Organism" in relation to Mendel's Dwarf. Compare and contrast the authors' attitudes toward one or (at most) two important social questions, such as disability, inheritance, nature vs. nurture, genetic determinism, etc.

2. Write about the ethical issues raised by A Philosophical Investigation and Philip R. Reilly's essays "Cold Hits: The Rise of DNA Felon Databanks" (pp. 65-77) and "Genes and Violence: Do Mutations Cause Crime" (pp. 79-91) in Abraham Lincoln's DNA (2000) concerning genetic information concerning DNA databanks on criminals or the genetic influences on violence. Be sure to focus on one specific incident from the novel and a specific example or problem from the Reilly essays.

3. Discuss questions of race and genetics in either A Philosophical Investigation or White Teeth.

4. Consider one of the following issues in White Teeth: the ethics of transgenic animals; cultural vs. genetic concepts of inheritance; religious belief and science; chance vs. fate.

5. Compare and contrast Martha Nussbaum's story "Little C" with Eva Hoffman's The Secret. Focus on a single motif or aspect of each work.