| Author |
MacLean, Katherine, 1925-2019 |
| Title |
Contagion
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| Note |
Reading ease score: 84.8 (6th grade). Easy to read.
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| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
|
| Summary |
"Contagion" by Katherine MacLean is a science fiction novella originally published in a magazine in the early 1950s. The story is set on the planet Minos, where a group of space explorers confronts the implications of a disease that has historically decimated previous colonies. The novella explores themes of identity, contagion, and the complex responses of human beings to new environments and situations. The narrative follows a four-member medical team aboard the spaceship "Explorer" as they arrive on Minos, believing it to be a pristine, uninhabited planet. They soon discover that a small human colony already exists, but the inhabitants have been isolated due to a deadly disease referred to as "melting sickness." The protagonists must grapple with the reality that they have been exposed to this affliction, which turns out to be a contagion linked to the genetic changes in the colonists. As events unfold, the medical team learns the disease alters their identities, leading to a crisis as they become indistinguishable from a dominant local population. The story culminates in questioning the essence of selfhood and belonging, leaving readers with thought-provoking reflections on human identity in the face of profound change. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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| Language |
English |
| LoC Class |
PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature
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| Subject |
Science fiction
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| Subject |
Diseases -- Fiction
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| Subject |
Space colonies -- Fiction
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| Category |
Text |
| EBook-No. |
50774 |
| Release Date |
Dec 27, 2015 |
| Copyright Status |
Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads |
168 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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