Lives of the Monster Plants:The Revenge of the Vegetable in the Age of Animal Studies.

This paper argues for a specifically Darwinian etiology of the image of the monstrous plant, so ubiquitous in the modern genres of speculative fiction. In the profusion of such narratives in the late 19th century, we can identify a collective anxiety about the implications of universal common descen...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts Vol. 23; no. 3; pp. 460 - 480
Autor principal: Miller, T. S.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=89743460&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 89743460
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        08970521
        AWJV
      jtl: Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
      issn: 08970521
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: 2012
      vid: 23
      iid: 3
      pid: 57252
      pub: International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts
    artinfo:
      ui: 89743460
      ppf: 460
      ppct: 20
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            size: 371KB
      tig:
        atl: Lives of the Monster Plants:The Revenge of the Vegetable in the Age of Animal Studies.
      aug:
        au: Miller, T. S.
      su:
        Plants in literature
        Speculative fiction
        Animal research
        Science fiction
        Animal species
        Wyndham, John
      sug:
        subj:
          Plants in literature
          Speculative fiction
          Animal research
          Science fiction
          Animal species
          Wyndham, John
      ab: This paper argues for a specifically Darwinian etiology of the image of the monstrous plant, so ubiquitous in the modern genres of speculative fiction. In the profusion of such narratives in the late 19th century, we can identify a collective anxiety about the implications of universal common descent: acknowledging a shared evolutionary heritage for plants and animals threatens the boundary between the two kingdoms that had always permitted the purely instrumentalist and exploitative relationship between humans and plants. Evolutionary anxiety projected onto the figure of the man-eating plant only multiplied in the early pulp magazines, and continued on through John Wyndham's triffids and beyond. Considering the many monstrous plants of early speculative fiction in this way can help expand the purview of the critical formation known as animal studies: while this paper does not advocate for the development of a "plant studies," it invites further thinking about the implications of taking the word "species" in animal studies a little more literally, as the word so often seems to mean "mammal species" or "animal species."
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      custom: Copyright of Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts is the property of International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
      item: Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
      holder: International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2012
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N