“Finding a Form to Accommodate the Mess”. Experimental Science and Storytelling in Thalia Field’s Writing
Thalia Field’s writing draws its power and inventiveness from the conversation it conducts between biology and storytelling. On the one hand, Field draws from biology or geology to invent non-human points of views or timescales and thus rethink the units of narrative (character, plot, action). On th...
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| Опубликовано в: : | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
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| Главный автор: | |
| Формат: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Язык: | Anglais |
| Опубликовано: |
Angles
2020
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| Предметы: | |
| Online-ссылка: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_974 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_974 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.974 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.974 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/974 2020-07-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9mz8 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ “Finding a Form to Accommodate the Mess”. Experimental Science and Storytelling in Thalia Field’s Writing Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Lang, Abigail narration expérimental science Field Thalia expérience biologie Bernard Claude Cage John storytelling experimental science Field Thalia experience biology Bernard Claude Cage John Thalia Field’s writing draws its power and inventiveness from the conversation it conducts between biology and storytelling. On the one hand, Field draws from biology or geology to invent non-human points of views or timescales and thus rethink the units of narrative (character, plot, action). On the other hand, she taps the critical learning garnered by poetry and poetics to point out the failings of science when it misuses its authority and turns a blind eye to its motives. On closer examination, “realist” fiction and scientific method share certain characteristics: omniscient point of view, separation between subject and object, linear causality. To these they owe their great cognitive faculties but also some tragic lapses. Experimental Animals, a polyphonic historical novel depicting the birth of Claude Bernard’s experimental medicine and of the anti-vivisection movement, shows the tragic flaw of physiology to be the denial of experience in the name of experiment and the lack of empathy for objectified animals. Turning to ethology, the science of animal behavior, Bird Lovers, Backyard exposes Konrad Lorenz’s tragic flaw to be a compromised use of storytelling and the projection of human psychology onto animals. Bearing these flaws in mind, Field seeks to write from the right distance, a requirement which accounts for the experimental forms her stories take, an experimentalism that owes more to John Cage than to Bernard or Zola. L’œuvre de Thalia Field tire sa force et son originalité de la conversation qu’elle y conduit entre la biologie et la narration. D’une part, elle se sert de la géologie ou de la biologie pour inventer des échelles et des points de vue non-humains et ainsi repenser les unités de la narration (récit, personnage, action). D’autre part, elle se sert du savoir critique de la poésie et de la poétique pour pointer l’aveuglement de la science quand elle abuse de son pouvoir et s’illusionne sur ses motifs et ses méthodes. A y regarder de près, récit « réaliste » et méthode scientifique partagent des caractéristiques — point de vue omniscient, séparation du sujet et de l’objet, causalité linéaire – qui ont fait leur puissance cognitive mais ont parfois aussi causé leurs dérives et leurs méfaits. Roman historique polyphonique consacré à la naissance de la médecine expérimentale et des sociétés de lutte contre la vivisection, Experimental Animals montre que la faille de la physiologie de Claude Bernard réside dans le déni de l’expérience au nom de l’expérimentation et dans le manque d’empathie pour les animaux réifiés. Consacré à l’éthologie, la science du comportement animal, Bird Lovers, Backyard montre que la faille de Konrad Lorenz réside dans un usage compromis du récit et la projection de la psychologie humaine sur les animaux. Avec l’enseignement de ces deux failles en tête, Field cherche à écrire à la bonne distance, une exigence qui explique la forme expérimentale que prennent ses histoires et qui doit plus à John Cage qu’à Bernard ou Zola. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
narration expérimental science Field Thalia expérience biologie Bernard Claude Cage John storytelling experimental science Field Thalia experience biology Bernard Claude Cage John |
| spellingShingle |
narration expérimental science Field Thalia expérience biologie Bernard Claude Cage John storytelling experimental science Field Thalia experience biology Bernard Claude Cage John Lang, Abigail “Finding a Form to Accommodate the Mess”. Experimental Science and Storytelling in Thalia Field’s Writing |
| description |
Thalia Field’s writing draws its power and inventiveness from the conversation it conducts between biology and storytelling. On the one hand, Field draws from biology or geology to invent non-human points of views or timescales and thus rethink the units of narrative (character, plot, action). On the other hand, she taps the critical learning garnered by poetry and poetics to point out the failings of science when it misuses its authority and turns a blind eye to its motives. On closer examination, “realist” fiction and scientific method share certain characteristics: omniscient point of view, separation between subject and object, linear causality. To these they owe their great cognitive faculties but also some tragic lapses. Experimental Animals, a polyphonic historical novel depicting the birth of Claude Bernard’s experimental medicine and of the anti-vivisection movement, shows the tragic flaw of physiology to be the denial of experience in the name of experiment and the lack of empathy for objectified animals. Turning to ethology, the science of animal behavior, Bird Lovers, Backyard exposes Konrad Lorenz’s tragic flaw to be a compromised use of storytelling and the projection of human psychology onto animals. Bearing these flaws in mind, Field seeks to write from the right distance, a requirement which accounts for the experimental forms her stories take, an experimentalism that owes more to John Cage than to Bernard or Zola. |
| author |
Lang, Abigail |
| author_facet |
Lang, Abigail |
| author_sort |
Lang, Abigail |
| title |
“Finding a Form to Accommodate the Mess”. Experimental Science and Storytelling in Thalia Field’s Writing |
| title_short |
“Finding a Form to Accommodate the Mess”. Experimental Science and Storytelling in Thalia Field’s Writing |
| title_full |
“Finding a Form to Accommodate the Mess”. Experimental Science and Storytelling in Thalia Field’s Writing |
| title_fullStr |
“Finding a Form to Accommodate the Mess”. Experimental Science and Storytelling in Thalia Field’s Writing |
| title_full_unstemmed |
“Finding a Form to Accommodate the Mess”. Experimental Science and Storytelling in Thalia Field’s Writing |
| title_sort |
“finding a form to accommodate the mess”. experimental science and storytelling in thalia field’s writing |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.974 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/974 |
| _version_ |
1877293950069374976 |