Mendel's Dwarf (1998)
By Simon Mawer
Disability; Eugenics; Gender; Genetic research; Genetic screening; Inherited traits; Mendel; Mutations
Dr. Benedict Lambert isolates the gene for achondroplasia, but now must decide whether to use his newfound knowledge to genetically “perfect” his offspring.
After years of research, Dr. Benedict Lambert has isolated the gene for achondroplasia, a dominant genetic mutation that causes dwarfism. His interest in this particular gene mutation is personal: Benedict is a dwarf. He is constantly aware of the typical social reactions to his condition: horror, pity, fear, disgust, discomfort. A lifetime of exclusion has turned him into a cynic, obsessed with his research and his genetic link to Gregor Mendel. He finds certain solace in Mendel’s immediate failure to garner respect for his theories of inheritance. Largely ignored upon first publication, Mendel’s experiments with inherited traits and pea plants were not lauded until years after his death. Without Mendel’s initial research into the field of dominant and recessive genes, Benedict’s research couldn’t exist. While he is professionally successful, his relationships with women are painfully humiliating: his first college love cannot reciprocate because of his condition, and his first sexual encounters are with a prostitute named Eve. Only when he rediscovers his early crush, librarian Jean Piercy, does he begin to have faith in himself as a man. After she leaves her abusive husband, Jean moves in with Benedict. Their relationship is tenuous, often hinging on their willfully ignoring his condition. She becomes pregnant, but neither will risk an achondroplastic child. After her abortion, she returns to her husband. Benedict’s scientific discovery brings Jean back into his life, and their renewed relationship has disastrous consequences.
Mawer’s novel is a fascinating work that hints at the perceived monstrosities affecting the human species, as well as the arbitrary judgments placed on certain mutations. During his research, Benedict encounters the rampant prejudice against his condition. One woman tells his pregnant client that she shouldn’t be allowed to breed. He half-jests that should genes be regulated, those possessing the XY pairing should be isolated because males are the source of most violence. Benedict reverses the judgmental gazes directed at him by identifying the phenotypically expressed mutations in others. Eve’s lack of pubic hair and Jean’s mismatched eye color are two examples of mutations upon which he fixates. His own mutation fascinates him; he tries to pinpoint the moment at which his father’s sperm is altered. The discrepancy between genotype and phenotype is established in both Benedict’s professional experience and with Mendel’s pea plant experiments. Benedict initially faces funding difficulties when he begins his research, because the “market” for genetic research focuses on recessive genes. Research on the dangers buried in the genome plays upon fears of “what could be” (genotype) rather than “what is” (phenotype). He shares Mendel’s interest in expressed genes; Mendel, too, studied achondroplastic circus “freaks” for dominant and recessive traits. Benedict notes it was Mendel’s misfortune to be ignore by scientists who needed him most – Darwin – and misinterpreted by those interested in controlling populations – Hitler, Lysenko, Goddard and Pearson. A new eugenics is resulting from the abortion of affected fetuses or the selective removal of undesirable traits.
Evaluation: The parallels drawn between Benedict’s turmoil and Mendel’s fictionalized struggles offer readers an aesthetically enticing way of comparing contemporary and historical genetic issues. Graphic scenes of rape and domestic violence make this warning against the new eugenics particularly disturbing.
– Natalie Champ