How the Gene Got Its Groove: Figurative Language, Science, and the Rhetoric of the Real

148 Pages·2008·5.101 MB·

by  Elizabeth Parthenia Shea

HOW THE GENE GOT ITS GROOVE

HOW THE GENE GOT ITS GROOVE
Figurative Language, Science, and the Rhetoric of the Real
ELIZABETH PARTHENIA SHEA
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2008 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production and book design, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shea, Elizabeth Parthenia, 1966–
How the gene got its groove : figurative language, science, and the rhetoric of the real /
Elizabeth Parthenia Shea.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7914-7425-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Genetics. 2. Communication in
science—Philosophy. 3. Rhetoric—Philosophy. I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Genes. 2. Language Arts. 3. Persuasive Communication. 4. Science. QU 470
S539h 2008]
QH430.S525 2008
576.5—dc22
2007030817
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my mother Mary M. Shea
and late father Thomas D. Shea
who generously passed on and nurtured
the genes for enjoying the endless
play of figurative language.

Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
1 INTRODUCTION 1
2 GENETIC ORIGIN STORIES 15
3 PRESCRIBING RHETORICAL WORK:
GENETIC THEORIES, GEMMULES, AND GENES 29
4 GENES ON MAIN STREET 49
5 GENES, FIGURES, THINGS, OBJECTS 65
6 FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING: GENES,
SEXUALITY, AND THE AUTHORITY OF SCIENCE 81
7 GENOME: THE SECRET OF HOW
TROPES WORK IN THE LIFE SCIENCES 105
NOTES 125
REFERENCES 129
INDEX 135

Acknowledgments
I first glimpsed the gemmule for this book while working on a dissertation
under the direction of S. Michael Halloran. When Michael agreed to serve
as the director of my dissertation committee, he “warned” me that he was not
an overly directive director. The warning, it turned out, was less a comment
about his work style and more a clue to the powers of persuasion that he
would wield over my views of rhetoric. Just as Wilhelm Johannsen ushered
the gene into language by offering it as a reality designed to resist the imped-
iments of language, Michael Halloran imposed an appreciation of rhetoric by
resisting the impediments of demonstration and direction. And though I cer-
tainly would not presume to persuade him of anything regarding the rhetoric
of the real, I do express my wholehearted gratitude to him for persuading me
to appreciate real rhetoric.
A grant from Northeastern University’s Research and Scholarship
Development Fund offered me valuable time to conduct research for this
book. I am grateful to two research assistants: Brooke Wittenberg for her help
in sifting through a century of representations of genes in the popular press
and to Michele Braun for tracking down and translating early genetics texts.
Thanks to Sarah Farris for help in keeping the research organized and to Erin
Sunderland for eukaryotic management. Thank you to my friend and former
colleague Eric Iversen for bringing me to the genome exhibit in Washington,
D.C., and for analyzing it with me right there on the spot. Thanks to Ashley
Williams and Allen for turning my attention to the grooves of DNA. Thanks
also to Edward Schiffer for allowing me to benefit from his amazing memory
of popular culture.
Several colloquia series have provided me the opportunities to air earlier
versions of my work and to receive lively, engaging, and extremely helpful
feedback. Thanks to Wenda Bauchspies and the Science and Technology
Studies Program at the Pennsylvania State University; Amy Propen,
Bernadette Longo, Art Walzer, and the members of the Rhetoric Department
at the University of Minnesota; and Sarah Jansen and the Harvard History of
Life Sciences Studies Group.
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