Transplantation and Alternative Worlds: Speculation in Doctors' Life Writing
Even though organ transplantation has turned into a repeatable and comparatively reliable practice, it still presents ample cause for speculation. In fact, various works of speculative fiction explore the practice in relation to the future. Yet, as this article suggests, speculation about transplant...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Innsbruck
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://jaaas.eu/jaaas/article/view/223 |
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| _version_ | 1849422204703342592 |
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| author | Ruth Gehrmann |
| author_facet | Ruth Gehrmann |
| author_sort | Ruth Gehrmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Even though organ transplantation has turned into a repeatable and comparatively reliable practice, it still presents ample cause for speculation. In fact, various works of speculative fiction explore the practice in relation to the future. Yet, as this article suggests, speculation about transplantation does not only occur within the pages of fictional works but also impacts the life writing of medical professionals. This article engages specifically with the life writing of transplant surgeons: Thomas Starzl's The Puzzle People: Memoirs of a Transplant Surgeon (1992), Kathy E. Magliato's Heart Matters: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon (2010), and Breathless: A Transplant Surgeon's Journal by Thomas R. J. Todd (2007). By focusing on two distinct forms of speculation – the employment of elements from speculative fiction and the pervasiveness of the question "What if …?" – this article emphasizes the underlying but often overlooked significance of speculation in medical contexts.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-352bc934d4ba4340ad8d46b4c99353e2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2616-9533 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Innsbruck |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-352bc934d4ba4340ad8d46b4c99353e22025-08-20T03:31:11ZengUniversity of InnsbruckJournal of the Austrian Association for American Studies2616-95332025-06-016210.47060/jaaas.v6i2.223Transplantation and Alternative Worlds: Speculation in Doctors' Life WritingRuth Gehrmann0Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, GermanyEven though organ transplantation has turned into a repeatable and comparatively reliable practice, it still presents ample cause for speculation. In fact, various works of speculative fiction explore the practice in relation to the future. Yet, as this article suggests, speculation about transplantation does not only occur within the pages of fictional works but also impacts the life writing of medical professionals. This article engages specifically with the life writing of transplant surgeons: Thomas Starzl's The Puzzle People: Memoirs of a Transplant Surgeon (1992), Kathy E. Magliato's Heart Matters: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon (2010), and Breathless: A Transplant Surgeon's Journal by Thomas R. J. Todd (2007). By focusing on two distinct forms of speculation – the employment of elements from speculative fiction and the pervasiveness of the question "What if …?" – this article emphasizes the underlying but often overlooked significance of speculation in medical contexts. https://jaaas.eu/jaaas/article/view/223surgeons' autobiographysurgeons' memoirspeculative fictionmedical humanities |
| spellingShingle | Ruth Gehrmann Transplantation and Alternative Worlds: Speculation in Doctors' Life Writing Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies surgeons' autobiography surgeons' memoir speculative fiction medical humanities |
| title | Transplantation and Alternative Worlds: Speculation in Doctors' Life Writing |
| title_full | Transplantation and Alternative Worlds: Speculation in Doctors' Life Writing |
| title_fullStr | Transplantation and Alternative Worlds: Speculation in Doctors' Life Writing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Transplantation and Alternative Worlds: Speculation in Doctors' Life Writing |
| title_short | Transplantation and Alternative Worlds: Speculation in Doctors' Life Writing |
| title_sort | transplantation and alternative worlds speculation in doctors life writing |
| topic | surgeons' autobiography surgeons' memoir speculative fiction medical humanities |
| url | https://jaaas.eu/jaaas/article/view/223 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ruthgehrmann transplantationandalternativeworldsspeculationindoctorslifewriting |