Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’
This article explores literary interrogations of the bioethical implications of cloning. It does so by outlining the basic science of cloning before going on to question the dominance of the Freudian notion of the ‘uncanny’ in the critical theoretical responses to cloning by figures such as Jean Bau...
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| Format: | Article |
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Edinburgh University Press
2010
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34420/ |
| _version_ | 1848794849521696768 |
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| author | Marks, John |
| author_facet | Marks, John |
| author_sort | Marks, John |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article explores literary interrogations of the bioethical implications of cloning. It does so by outlining the basic science of cloning before going on to question the dominance of the Freudian notion of the ‘uncanny’ in the critical theoretical responses to cloning by figures such as Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Žižek. The second half of the article turns to two recent novels exploring the theme of cloning: Eva Hoffman's The Secret, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. It is argued that the former rehearses familiar themes of revulsion connected to the figure of the clone, yet resolves the struggle for identity in a ‘human’ conclusion; whereas the latter maintains the uncanny in-human difference of the clone even as it highlights the dangers of the biopolitical instrumentalization of life itself. The article therefore argues that fictional treatments of cloning can provide an important alternative to simplified debates on the subject in the mass media. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:22:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-34420 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:22:44Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-344202020-05-04T16:29:49Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34420/ Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’ Marks, John This article explores literary interrogations of the bioethical implications of cloning. It does so by outlining the basic science of cloning before going on to question the dominance of the Freudian notion of the ‘uncanny’ in the critical theoretical responses to cloning by figures such as Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Žižek. The second half of the article turns to two recent novels exploring the theme of cloning: Eva Hoffman's The Secret, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. It is argued that the former rehearses familiar themes of revulsion connected to the figure of the clone, yet resolves the struggle for identity in a ‘human’ conclusion; whereas the latter maintains the uncanny in-human difference of the clone even as it highlights the dangers of the biopolitical instrumentalization of life itself. The article therefore argues that fictional treatments of cloning can provide an important alternative to simplified debates on the subject in the mass media. Edinburgh University Press 2010-11-01 Article PeerReviewed Marks, John (2010) Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’. Paragraph, 33 (3). pp. 331-353. ISSN 1750-0176 Bioethics Cloning Freud Genetics Eva Hoffman Kazuo Ishiguro Posthuman Psychoanalysis http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/para.2010.0203 doi:10.3366/E0264833410000945 doi:10.3366/E0264833410000945 |
| spellingShingle | Bioethics Cloning Freud Genetics Eva Hoffman Kazuo Ishiguro Posthuman Psychoanalysis Marks, John Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’ |
| title | Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’ |
| title_full | Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’ |
| title_fullStr | Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’ |
| title_short | Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’ |
| title_sort | clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’ |
| topic | Bioethics Cloning Freud Genetics Eva Hoffman Kazuo Ishiguro Posthuman Psychoanalysis |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34420/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34420/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34420/ |