How the Gene Got Its Groove

Elizabeth Parthenia Shea

Description

Against a backdrop of the history of the gene as a scientific and a cultural icon, How the Gene Got Its Groove examines how "genes" function as rhetorical objects. Returning to Wilhelm Johannsen's original argument for the term, Elizabeth Parthenia Shea maintains that the gene was, first and foremost, a rhetorical invention, designed to lay claim to a material reality and to dissociate itself from the problems of language, conjecture, and rhetorical uncertainty. She traces the rhetorical work of the gene through scientific and nonscientific arguments throughout the twentieth century. The gene's travels between scientific and popular texts challenge us to recognize the subtle powers of figurative language in creating a sense that matters of science stand outside the contingencies of language and the influences of rhetoric.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. GENETIC ORIGIN STORIES

3. PRESCRIBING RHETORICAL WORK: GENETIC THEORIES, GEMMULES, AND GENES

4. GENES ON MAIN STREET

5. GENES, FIGURES, THINGS, OBJECTS

6. FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING: GENES, SEXUALITY, AND THE AUTHORITY OF SCIENCE

7. GENOME: THE SECRET OF HOW TROPES WORK IN THE LIFE SCIENCES

NOTES
REFERENCES
INDEX

Sujets

• Popular culture
• Mathematics
• History of science
• Science

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791478516
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

HOW THE GENE GOT ITS GROOVE

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HOW THE GENE GOT ITS GROOVE

Figurative Language, Science, and the Rhetoric of the Real

ELIZABETH PARTHENIA SHEA

S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2008 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production and book design, Laurie Searl Marketing, Fran Keneston

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shea, Elizabeth Parthenia, 1966– How the gene got its groove : figurative language, science, and the rhetoric of the real / Elizabeth Parthenia Shea. p. ; cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7914-7425-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Genetics. 2. Communication in science—Philosophy. 3. Rhetoric—Philosophy. I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Genes. 2. Language Arts. 3. Persuasive Communication. 4. Science. QU 470 S539h 2008]

QH430.S525 2008 576.5—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2007030817

To my mother Mary M. Shea and late father Thomas D. Shea who generously passed on and nurtured the genes for enjoying the endless play of figurative language.

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

GENETIC ORIGIN STORIES

PRESCRIBING RHETORICAL WORK: GENETIC THEORIES, GEMMULES, AND GENES

GENES ON MAIN STREET

GENES, FIGURES, THINGS, OBJECTS

FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING: GENES, SEXUALITY, AND THE AUTHORITY OF SCIENCE

GENOME: THE SECRET OF HOW TROPES WORK IN THE LIFE SCIENCES

NOTES

REFERENCES

INDEX

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Acknowledgments

I first glimpsed the gemmule for this book while working on a dissertation under the direction of S. Michael Halloran. When Michael agreed to serve as the director of my dissertation committee, he “warned” me that he was not an overly directive director. The warning, it turned out, was less a comment about his work style and more a clue to the powers of persuasion that he would wield over my views of rhetoric. Just as Wilhelm Johannsen ushered the gene into language by offering it as a reality designed to resist the imped- iments of language, Michael Halloran imposed an appreciation of rhetoric by resisting the impediments of demonstration and direction. And though I cer- tainly would not presume to persuade him of anything regarding the rhetoric of the real, I do express my wholehearted gratitude to him for persuading me to appreciate real rhetoric. A grant from Northeastern University’s Research and Scholarship Development Fund offered me valuable time to conduct research for this book. I am grateful to two research assistants: Brooke Wittenberg for her help in sifting through a century of representations of genes in the popular press and to Michele Braun for tracking down and translating early genetics texts. Thanks to Sarah Farris for help in keeping the research organized and to Erin Sunderland for eukaryotic management. Thank you to my friend and former colleague Eric Iversen for bringing me to the genome exhibit in Washington, D.C., and for analyzing it with me right there on the spot. Thanks to Ashley Williams and Allen for turning my attention to the grooves of DNA. Thanks also to Edward Schiffer for allowing me to benefit from his amazing memory of popular culture. Several colloquia series have provided me the opportunities to air earlier versions of my work and to receive lively, engaging, and extremely helpful feedback. Thanks to Wenda Bauchspies and the Science and Technology Studies Program at the Pennsylvania State University; Amy Propen, Bernadette Longo, Art Walzer, and the members of the Rhetoric Department at the University of Minnesota; and Sarah Jansen and the Harvard History of Life Sciences Studies Group.

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