Literature, Parasitism, and Science

This book offers the first comprehensive consideration of parasitic worms, their ability to mold creative imaginations, and the literature that results from these vermicular formations. The representatives of these inscriptions are three of the most prominent authors of the long nineteenth century: Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Their writings cover a transitory period in science when parasitology became a contested discourse both in and beyond the scientific realm. While the untold cases of Stoker and Stevenson involve helminths, the untold case of Doyle involves spirochetes, with each author concertedly exploring the epidemiological effects of their respective parasitic interests. For context, the prescript and postscript to these fascinating cases concern Charles Darwin, whose first and last major works bookend a main discussion that breaks the taboo that surrounds parasitism, illustrates how classic literature owes much to parasitic cases, and promotes the continued importance of parasitology.