The Eugenetic Imagination

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This book addresses a research gap in the study of eugenics in fictional literature: the analysis of the nexus of eugenics and genetics in 21st-century novels, detached from their authors' ideological beliefs. It is based on an understanding of literature as an interdiscourse in Juergen Link's sense. The study employs categories developed by Rabinow and Rose in the context of Foucault's concept of "biopower." It thereby demonstrates that, though officially fallen from grace in light of the Nazi atrocities committed in the name of racial hygiene, eugenic ideas remain surprisingly resilient in the sciences as well as in fiction. Thus, the nexus between eugenics and genetics continues to serve as an important force in the structuring of scientific and contemporary popular (inter-)discourses.