Knife in hand: Science and vivisection in Norbert Wiener's autobiography and short fiction

This paper investigates the image of vivisection in Wiener's autobiography and in his (for the most part unpublished) short fiction. These short stories, which are related to science, imaginary or real, and almost invariably feature scientists, can be considered as science fiction or, more precisely, detective science fiction. The image of cruelty and, more specifically, the image of vivisection appears regularly in Wiener's writings but it tends to be repressed, associated with guilt, or hidden under a different concern. It is only when Wiener writes fiction under his pseudonym, W. Norbert, that vivisections are operated with joy. Where does this image of vivisection come from? Can it be related to the cybernetic conceptual framework?