Discourses and Narrations in the Biosciences

Edited by Brian Hurwitz Edited by Paola Spinozzi Series edited by Elena Agazzi Series edited by Vita Fortunati

Book cover: Discourses and Narrations in the Biosciences

Extent: 299 pages

Publisher: V&R unipress

Subjects: Social Sciences 

Series: Interfacing Science, Literature, and the Humanities / ACUME 2

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(August 2011)

ISBN: 9783899718317

6.54 x 9.69 inches

Price: $94.00

On back order

Communication and Narrativization of Scientific Knowledge.


Discourses and Narrations in the Biosciences investigates the forms of writing in which scientific claims are formulated and announced. Argumentative strategies, compositional rules, and figurative expressions in communication and narrativization of scientific knowledge are the focus of interdisciplinary contributions by humanities and science scholars. The first part of the book, dedicated to ‘Rhetorical and Epistemological Aspects of Science Writing’, addresses how scientific pursuits and methods feed into multi-level texts that generate responses within science, society, and culture. The second part, entitled ‘Bioscientific Discourses and Narrations’, examines popularisations and fictionalizations of science in relation to diversity, deviancy, ageing, illness, reproduction, the evolution of humankind, mathematical models of biomedical systems, and the myth of the heroic scientist. Assessing the narrative impetus and command of literary and meta-discoursive strategies shown by contemporary science writers enhances understanding of the methods and conventions through which the biosciences produce knowledge.

Brian Hurwitz is a family doctor practising in inner London and Professor of Medicine and the Arts at King’s College London. His research encompasses narrative studies in relation to medical practice, ethics, law and clinical case reports. He co-convenes the UK’s first MA Programme in Literature and Medicine and directs the Centre for the Humanities and Health at King’s College, which offers both an MSc and MA in Medical Humanities.

  • Edited by Brian Hurwitz
  • Edited by Paola Spinozzi
  • Series edited by Elena Agazzi
  • Series edited by Vita Fortunati