New Directions in Literature, Science, and Medicine

Scholars working in the fields of literature and science and literature and medicine often assumed that literature reflected preexisting scientific and medical ideas: first science or medicine, then literature. That has changed. This review article identifies recent methodological trends in studies of literature, science, and medicine, focusing on the last decade. Each of the methodological trends is paired with a brief case study. The case studies provide practical examples of the kinds of problems literary critics and literary historians might address. Sections on methodological trends examine the ways in which recent publications have approached the interpretative problems I discuss in the case studies.