Michael Greaney’s “‘Observed, Measured, Contained’: Contemporary Fiction and the Science of Sleep.”

摘要

Enriching recent discussions in a currently emerging field called “critical sleep studies,” Michael Greaney’s article examines a literary subgenre that Greaney calls “sleep-science fiction.” The article identifies a wide range of contemporary novels and short stories which share a specific setting: the sleep laboratory. According to Greaney’s analysis, sleep-science fiction is populated by villainous scientists who try to observe, measure and contain the narcoleptic or insomniac heroes’ sleep(lessness) with the help of seemingly futuristic machines; an enterprise typically destined to fail.