Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion argues that the relationship between the third culture novel and the science that it invites in is one characterized by a conflicted mirroring, whereby these authors associate science with objectivity at the same time that they compete with its objective claims. In the same way that science is used selectively where questions of objectivity are concerned, the third culture novel allies itself with science when it comes to undermining literary and cultural theory, only to recommence its (albeit subtle) battle with science once this task is seen to have been achieved. The conclusion then questions the longevity and future directions of this subgenre, using Karen Barad’s work on the entanglement of different forms of knowledge to argue that science, and the ways in which science conceives of the material world, will continue to inform a significant section of the contemporary novel of ideas for some time to come.