The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Embodying fantasies and realities of contagion

Embodying fantasies and realities of contagion
Embodying fantasies and realities of contagion
From Outbreak to The Walking Dead, apocalyptic narratives of infection, contagion and global pandemic are an inescapable part of post-millennial popular culture. Yet these fears and fantasies are too virulent to simply be quarantined within fictional texts; vocabulary and metaphors from outbreak narratives have infiltrated how news media, policymakers and the general public view the world and the people within it. In 2008 Priscilla Wald outlined the history of the ‘outbreak narrative’, emphasising the ways in which the politics of fictions and the fictions of politics have always been intertwined. Wald traces contagion from its early uses in the fourteenth century, where it literally meant ‘to touch together’, connoting dangerous or corrupting ideas and attitudes: ‘Revolutionary ideas were contagious, as were heretical beliefs and practices’. In contemporary contexts, we find narratives in which ‘human beings’ futile efforts to defend themselves against the threat of illness in the daily interactions’ are ‘made global by contemporary transportation and commerce’. In all instances, contagion serves as ‘a principle of classification that displayed the rationale of social organization and was, therefore, the force that bound people to the relationships that constituted the terms of their existence’.
contagion, biopolitics, infection, horror, desire, contemporary fiction
1-12
University of Wales Press
de Bruin-Molé, Megen
50c0d19d-e9c9-4ad4-9b14-8645139e1ef9
Polak, Sara
ed1ebac9-8c21-480c-922a-beb286c3bddd
de Bruin-Molé, Megen
50c0d19d-e9c9-4ad4-9b14-8645139e1ef9
Polak, Sara
ed1ebac9-8c21-480c-922a-beb286c3bddd

de Bruin-Molé, Megen and Polak, Sara (2021) Embodying fantasies and realities of contagion. In, Embodying Contagion: The Viropolitics of Horror and Desire in Contemporary Discourse. (Horror Studies) University of Wales Press, pp. 1-12. (doi:10.16922/contagion).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

From Outbreak to The Walking Dead, apocalyptic narratives of infection, contagion and global pandemic are an inescapable part of post-millennial popular culture. Yet these fears and fantasies are too virulent to simply be quarantined within fictional texts; vocabulary and metaphors from outbreak narratives have infiltrated how news media, policymakers and the general public view the world and the people within it. In 2008 Priscilla Wald outlined the history of the ‘outbreak narrative’, emphasising the ways in which the politics of fictions and the fictions of politics have always been intertwined. Wald traces contagion from its early uses in the fourteenth century, where it literally meant ‘to touch together’, connoting dangerous or corrupting ideas and attitudes: ‘Revolutionary ideas were contagious, as were heretical beliefs and practices’. In contemporary contexts, we find narratives in which ‘human beings’ futile efforts to defend themselves against the threat of illness in the daily interactions’ are ‘made global by contemporary transportation and commerce’. In all instances, contagion serves as ‘a principle of classification that displayed the rationale of social organization and was, therefore, the force that bound people to the relationships that constituted the terms of their existence’.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 4 May 2020
Published date: 1 April 2021
Keywords: contagion, biopolitics, infection, horror, desire, contemporary fiction

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 441039
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441039
PURE UUID: c3b4839d-7fc8-4690-b3ab-fa32b9c70cb0
ORCID for Megen de Bruin-Molé: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4243-1995

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 28 May 2020 16:57
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:49

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Sara Polak

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×