Over the summer I worked with Dr John Holmes on researching the way in which science fiction can evoke mythic and epic traditions in order to respond to and, to some extent, inform the study of biology. I spent the first two weeks of the project understanding the breadth of material available that fit the criteria necessary to be included in this project. This research was useful for creating a preliminary bibliography of relevant authors, their key works, and secondary criticism on them. As the project was to be funded by the European Research Council I also wrote reports on the development of the science fiction genre in French and German literature.
I am particularly interested in exploring the underrepresented voices of sci-fi and working with John Holmes allowed me to do this as I was encouraged to pursue my own interests for the final three weeks of the project. Therefore, during this phase I focused on the works of Octavia E Butler and Margaret Atwood. After one week of researching these writers I was faced with the seemingly daunting task of reading six books in six days. However, I can say with confidence that being paid to spend all day reading about the sex lives of aliens within Butler’s dystopian world was one of the highlights of my summer. Atwood presents a warning to her readers as to the dangerous consequences of bio-engineering being commodified within our capitalist society and Butler crafts a world where aliens seduce humans in order to create a new species. I concluded the project with a 3000-word report summarising my findings on these authors and the way in which their works can be studied in the context of biological innovations. This was one of the longest pieces of extended writing I have ever completed, and it has made me far more confident in my academic abilities.
Undertaking this project has definitely changed the way I think about academic research. The freedom and flexibility it offers as a career choice had never occurred to me before and the interdisciplinary nature of this project has been a pleasant surprise. Moreover, I feel that many hold the stereotypical image of an older conservative white man when they visualise an academic researcher and the multitude of perspectives from which I was encouraged to consider the themes of these novels has attuned me to the diversity of the field as a whole.
Anjali Modhvadia, BA English