Literature, Science, and Public Policy

Jay Clayton is William R. Kenan Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Author of numerous books and articles on topics ranging from Victorian literature to digital media, he is the recipient of the Suzanne M. Glasscock Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship.

• Preface; Part I. Literature and Science Policy: 1. A new project for the humanities: Ian McEwan; Part II. Deep Time: 2. Victorian chimeras: H. G. Wells, Thomas H. Huxley; 3. Cain's legacy: the mark of Lamarck in late-Victorian fiction: Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Samuel Butler, H. Rider Haggard, Wilkie Collins; 4. Evolution in the tropics: neo-Victorian fictions: A. S. Byatt, Andrea Barrett, David Mitchell; Part III. The Modern Synthesis: 5. Genetics and dystopia in the Huxley circle: Aldous Huxley, J. B. S. Haldane, Julian Huxley; 6. The ridicule of time: science fiction and the posthuman: Robert A. Heinlein to Octavia Butler; Part IV. Genome Time: 7. Time considered as a helix of infinite possibilities: Samuel R. Delany; 8. Biodystopia: Gary Shteyngart, Philip Kerr, Margaret Atwood; 9. Clones and other sorrows: Kazuo Ishiguro; Conclusion.

'Jay Clayton has provided a state-of-the-art toolkit for humanities scholars engaging with policy, but also for their Deans, PVCs, Vice-Chancellors, and funding bodies who support interdisciplinary research and outward-facing institutions. Clayton's expert knowledge of literary history and lifelong collaborations in science and technology will be of interest to anyone who wants informed opinion on literature and science, evolution, epigenetics, the modern synthesis, and genomics.' Regenia Gagnier, University of Exeter