A science fiction implant: Organ transplants in literature


Abstract


Long before the first successful transplants were performed on humans, some writers had wrote about them in fiction. In this article, we show some examples and explain how even seemingly crazy ideas were inspired by real experiments. Starting from the 1970s, when transplants had already been standardised, some narratives started to pose real problems such as the lack of donors. The works mentioned here show the importance of literature and its contributions to the ethical and social debate surrounding transplants. They can also spread those debates to many other sectors.


Keywords


transplants; literature; bioethics; Russian science fiction; organ donation

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