CSN Conference: Sciences & Fiction

Date
Fri May 9th 2014, 9:00am - Sat May 10th 2014, 5:00pm
Location
Terrace Room, Margaret Jacks Hall (460-426)
CSN Conference: Sciences & Fiction

 

Against any too-simple notion of a great divide between the Two Cultures, science and fiction have been in dialogue for centuries, and some of the most interesting work in literary studies in recent years has taken this fact as a starting point. Whether it is natural science offering the basic parameters of the “real” by which the realist novel has been defined and constantly transformed, or “genre fiction” acting as a crucial goad to more creative scientific thought, the fruitful cross-pollinations of scientific and fictional discourse have been legion. 
And yet, what exactly do we mean by “science,” and what forms can scientifically informed “fiction” take? To pluralize the key terms of the science/fiction dyad is immediately to see that each is more complex than one might have initially thought, and that these complexities have consequences for our understanding of their relation. 
Representing some of most accomplished and promising scholars working at the interface of science and literature today, the participants in this year’s CSN conference bring sometimes strikingly different conceptions of “science” and “fiction” to bear on their work, and this event will provide a unique opportunity for comparison, debate, dialogue and synthesis around two of the discipline’s key terms.