Author: Gane, Mike

Source: Information, Communication and Society, Volume 11, Number 6, September 2008 , pp. 799-815(17)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

Two recent works, Michel Houellebecq's The Possibility of an Island (2005) and Michael Crichton's Next (2006), examine the different potentialities of current genetics and offer two visions of the future dominated either by cloning technology which is a synonym for replication or by genetic modification signifying variation and diversification. Both are reflections on code-work that not only draw out the logics of current technologies but also envisage possible futures consequent on how new information is manipulated and controlled. These novels not only illustrate and exploit contemporary dystopian fears but are in themselves sophisticated thought experiments and theoretical provocations.

Keywords: code-work; post-human; Crichton; Houellebecq; Ishiguro

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691180802005220

Affiliations: 1: Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK

Publication date: 2008-09-01

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