The Recombinant University: Genetic Engineering and the Emergence of Stanford Biotechnology
continuities and intersections. Although written under the Cambridge influence of Jim Secord's "knowledge in transit" paradigm, perhaps more could have been said about the kind of circulation between writers, publishers, and readers that featured in those science themed fairy tales, and in particular about the specific role of women and children as active audiences for science. A more refined analysis of present scholarship on science and literature would have been valuable. Take for instance Barbara Naumann's guest contribution to a special issue of Science in Context (2005) in which several papers explore different "contact zones" and aspects of self reflection and self representation. A certain comparative approach using other cases from outside Victorian Britain might also have been informative and relevant for a complete analysis of that particular genre. Perhaps Lord Byron was right when he said, as Keene quotes: "Truth is stranger than fiction" (p. 187) The truth here is that the book is a remarkable piece of historical research that might interest several audiences beyond the specialized area of history of science and chemistry. This is another sign of the dynamism of present scholarship on the intersections between science and literature, and also of the vitality of the British Society for Literature and Science and the Cambridge Children's Literature Seminar. Keene helps us to pursue the idea that "reasoned scientific books are not easily distinguished from more imaginative or fantastical writings" (p. 8) Her research confirms that literary devices were indeed used in the past, in particular in Victorian Britain, as a metaphor for scientific understanding.
Ambix