On The Ethics Of Human Cloning In British Novels

With the rise of the fourth technological revolution in 1950s and 1960s,the biotechnology and genetic engineering have witnessed a rapid development,especially in area of cloned human.Accordingly,the topic of cloned man begins to appear in science fiction.The survival and ethical fate of human cloning has become an important theme in science fiction,provoking people to consider and discuss such issues as human dignity,ethical identity and so on.As an important branch of the "post-human" groups,cloned men share many commons with human beings in their body characteristics which determine that they have a closer relationship with human beings than other new species.Thus writers integrate the development of human society into science fictions through the technique of defamiliarization and propose their suggestions and warnings on the hot issues of society from the perspective of literature.Brave New World is the first science fiction involving the method of creating man through cloning,which is earlier than the concept of "cloning",and this novel has set a precedent in British literature about cloned man.Following that,Clone by Richard Cowper,The Third Twin by Ken Follett,Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell,Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro successively became representative of science fictions about human cloning.The first chapter starts from the cloned sheep Dolly and combines fiction with scientific reality.With the discussion of the ethical controversy triggered by the clone-made man,this chapter defines the research scope through clarifying the definition of cloned man.The second chapter focuses on the survival of cloned man from the ethical literary criticism,and discusses the ethical conflicts and identity confusion described in British science fiction of cloned man.The third chapter discusses issues like how human beings get along with cloned men from the perspective of "post-human" theory and emphases on the technical crime and dystopian themes described in the novels.The purpose of the study is to reveal the concerns of science fiction writers for social crisis caused by the abuse of science and technology.