Carl Djerassi

Gebundenes Buch

Sex in an Age of Technological Reproduction: ICSI and Taboos [With DVD]

Beschreibung

Carl Djerassi is one of the 'the fathers of the Pill' - he was awarded the National Medal of Science for the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive - and has had a prolific additional career as a writer of fiction, plays, and dialogues about science. In these two plays, ""ICSI"" and ""Taboos"", he dramatizes the social transformations and contested viewpoints created by advances in reproductive science and technology.Two of the most startling developments in contemporary science have radically disrupted the historical connection between sex and reproduction: in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (""ICSI"") - an assisted reproductive technique that directly injects a single sperm into an egg. The word play ""ICSI"" - designed for classroom readings - presents, in the format of a contentious talk-show dialogue, the science of direct-injection fertilization and the ethical issues connected with it. A DVD included in the book provides video of the ""ICSI"" injection process as viewed through a microscope, to be used in performances of the ""ICSI"" one-act dialogue.""Taboos"", a full-length play, turns the screws on characters that reflect a polarized America. Two couples - lesbian partners and a conservative husband and wife struggling with infertility - must make choices in a drama that examines the disjunction of sexual reproduction and the physical act of sex. The North American premiere of ""Taboos"" will open at New York's Soho Playhouse on September 19, 2008.

Autor

Carl Djerassi is emeritus professor of chemistry at Stanford University and the recipient of many scientific honors, including the American Chemical Society's Priestley Medal, the first Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the U.S. National Medal of Science, and the U.S. National Medal of Technology. His literary works, including poems, novels, plays, and memoirs, have been translated into many languages. Among the most widely known of these are Cantor's Dilemma, The Bourbaki Gambit, This Man's Pill, Calculus, Phallacy and Oxygen, (co-authored with Roald Hoffman).

Produktdetails

• Verlag: University of Wisconsin Press
• Library
• Seitenzahl: 136
• Erscheinungstermin: September 2008
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 231mm x 152mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 318g
• ISBN-13: 9780299227906
• ISBN-10: 0299227901
• Artikelnr.: 23800501