Author interview: Q and A with Dr Kari Nixon on kept from all contagion: germ theory, disease and the dilemma of human contact in late nineteenth-century literature

In this author interview, we speak to Dr Kari Nixon about her new book Kept From All Contagion: Germ Theory, Disease and the Dilemma of Human Contact in Late Nineteenth-Century Literature. She discusses why the growing public awareness of germ theory between 1870 and 1900 makes for a fruitful period of study, how ‘Biopolitical Resistance Literature’ in the period responded to some of the anxieties that emerged, how these literary works might help us think about the challenges of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the value of the humanities for examining the implications of contagion and disease.