TheMaterialismofBiologicalEncounters 147
interventionofadiseaseoutbreakintermsofanegativeprovidentialism
which thrives on a stark contrast between pre- and post-infection states
or even a pre- and post-lapsarian world. Furthermore, this narrative
script has the advantage of offering many occasions to enjoy the
privilegesofhindsight,whileitoffersthenarratorachance"towarmhis
frostylifeonadeathaboutwhichhereads"(Benjamin156).
FromScratch:MedicalSherlocks
Thesecrecyusuallysurroundingtheoutbreaksofinfectiousdiseases,
the speciousness of available evidence and the invisibility of the
infectionprocessesmakethemseem,inthepopularimaginationatleast,
like "the entry of a masked other" (Foucault, "Nietzsche" 154) which
duly needs to be unmasked.^93 A highly popular narrative format that
makes use of this image complex is the biological "whodunit." This
script deserves special attention here, because it is a particularly
effective combination of disease sell with disease thrill and as such
possiblytheprevalentpopculturalformatintherepresentationsofmass
diseases at this point in time, one which shapes the way in which such
diseasesarepresentinthepublicsphere.
The narrative center of this format is generally the figure of the
"disease detective" (a coinage coming from Newsweek and TIME
Magazine) or the "microbe hunter" (de Kruif 13); I will speak here of
"medical Sherlocks" because these figures are for all practices sleuths.
They do what all good literary sleuths do, namely looking for even the
most recondite information in order to solve a mystery, only this time,
the mystery is biological, the mystery of the passing-on of dangerous
biotafromonepersontothenext.
The archetypal master sleuth Himself, Sherlock Holmes, also
dedicated himself to this task. Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The
Adventure of the Dying Detective" (1913) features an infectious and
deadly disease named the Tapanuli Fever, used by a criminal as a
biological weapon to kill another person. As the exotic name suggests,
the fever is an imported illness, even worse, "a coolie disease from
Sumatra"andonethatis"infectiousbytouch"(112-13).Thestoryopens
(^93) ItshouldbenotedthatFoucaultisusingthatphraseinanunrelatedcontext.