Literature, Parasitism, and Science

Reviews / Votes

"This engaging and meticulously researched study is built on a foundation of illuminating readings of the works of its three focal authors. Wainwright re-examines canonical texts through a fine microscopic lens, informed by biography and broader historical contexts, producing incisive, insightful analysis. A nineteenth-century taboo is left thoroughly dissected."Dr Eleanor DobsonAssociate Professor in Nineteenth-Century Literature, University of Birmingham, UK'Framing his argument in the context of parasitology as a 'contested discourse' both in scientific and social circles of nineteenth-century Britain, Michael Wainwright traces the emergence of parasitological imagery and discourse in the works of Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Wainwright draws on Freudian psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, and biography as well as primary medical and scientific documents.The strengths of this study include its commitment to extensive primary research in parasitology, the biographical details of the authors' lives, and attention to the other relevant historical contexts. The discussions (in various places) of Freudian dream work are also strong. The part of the argument that links the physiological experience of invermination with the imaginative products of the sufferers is certainly a good psychoanalytic reading as is the context of cultural taboo that reinforces both cultural and individual repression.'Diana Edelman, PhD,Professor of English and Department Chair, University of North Georgia, USA, in The British Society for Literature and Science (2023)