Editing Carl Djerassi (section)

==Publications==
Djerassi published widely as a novelist, playwright and scientist.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Gehrke|first=Ingrid |title=Der intellektuelle Polygamist: Carl Djerassi's Grenzgänge in Autobiographie, Roman und Drama. |location=Berlin et al. |publisher=Lit Verlag |year=2008 | isbn=978-3-8258-1444-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | editor-last=Grünzweig| editor-first=Walter |title=The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts |location=Berlin et al. |publisher=Lit Verlag |year=2012 |isbn=978-3-643-90231-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Marks |first=Lara V. |title=Sexual Chemistry: A History Of The Contraceptive Pill |publisher=Diane Publishing Company |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-300-08943-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/sexualchemistryh00mark }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Tone|first=Andrea|title=Devices and Desires|location=New York|publisher=Hill and Wang, A Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8090-3817-6|url=https://archive.org/details/devicesdesireshi00tone}}</ref> In 1985, Djerassi said "I feel like I'd like to lead one more life. I'd like to leave a cultural imprint on society rather than just a technological benefit."<ref name=CHFOralHistory/><ref name=Reinhardt2015>{{cite web|last1=Reinhardt|first1=Carsten|title=CHF Remembers Carl Djerassi|url=http://blog.distillations.org/post/109905137147/chf-remembers-carl-djerassi|website=[[Chemical Heritage Foundation]]|access-date=February 2, 2015|archive-date=March 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321044501/http://blog.distillations.org/post/109905137147/chf-remembers-carl-djerassi|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He went on to write several novels in the "science-in-fiction" genre, including ''Cantor's Dilemma'',<ref name=dilemma/> in which he explored the ethics of modern scientific research through his protagonist, Dr. Cantor. He also wrote four autobiographies, the most recent of which, ''In Retrospect'' appeared in 2014.<ref name=Reinhardt2015/> He wrote a number of plays which have been performed and extensively translated.<ref name=Guardian2014/><ref name=SFGate/>  His book ''Chemistry in Theatre: Insufficiency, Phallacy or Both'' discusses the potential pedagogic value of using dialogic style and the plot structure of plays with special focus on chemistry.<ref name=Sterken>{{cite journal|last1=Sterken|first1=Christiaan|title=Chemistry in Theatre. Insufficiency, Phallacy or Both. Carl Djerassi (Book Review)|journal=The Journal of Astronomical Data|date=2012|volume=18|issue=6|url=http://www.vub.ac.be/STER/JAD/JAD18/jad18_6/jad18_6.pdf|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref>

===Science-in-fiction===
Djerassi wrote five novels, four of which he described as "science-in-fiction",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.djerassi.com/science.html|title=Science in Fiction|last=Djerassi|first=Carl|access-date=December 19, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Solon|first=Olivia|title=Q&A: Co-Inventor of 'The Pill' Talks Art, Science and Chemistry|url=https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/djerassi-qa/|newspaper=Wired UK|date=September 6, 2012}}</ref> fiction that portrays the lives of real scientists, with all their accomplishments, conflicts, and aspirations. The genre is also referred to as [[Lab lit]].<ref name=NYT2006>{{cite news | author = Bouton, Katherine |date=December 3, 2012| title = In Lab Lit, Fiction Meets Science of the Real World |newspaper = The New York Times | pages = D2 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/science/in-lab-lit-fiction-meets-science-of-the-real-world.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0}}</ref>

In his first two novels, ''Cantor's Dilemma'' and ''Bourbaki Gambit'', he shows how scientists work and think. In ''Cantor's Dilemma'', there is the suspicion of scientific fraud; in ''Bourbaki Gambit'' the question of personal achievement stands in the center.<ref name=Bourbaki>{{cite web|title=The Bourbaki Gambit|url=http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/bourbaki_gambit|access-date=February 2, 2015|agency=University of Georgia Press|archive-date=February 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202174044/http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/bourbaki_gambit|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the third, ''Menachem's Seed'', [[Intracytoplasmic sperm injection|ICSI]] and the [[Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs|Pugwash]] organization are the main themes.<ref name=Pugwash>{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Phililp|title=Pugwash, thinly disguised|journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|date=1997|volume=53|issue=6|pages=57–58|doi=10.1080/00963402.1997.11456791|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57|access-date=February 2, 2015|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In the last, ''NO'', he shows how young scientists develop an idea as far as founding a company to market a product<ref name=MalePhill>{{cite news|last1=Djerassi|first1=Carl|title=Carl Djerassi: 'I, a feminist father of the Pill, foresee no male Pill'|url=http://www.the-principal.com/2013/11/carl-djerassi-i-a-feminist-father-of-the-pill-foresee-no-male-pill/|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=Wired Science|date=November 4, 2013|archive-date=February 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202200650/http://www.the-principal.com/2013/11/carl-djerassi-i-a-feminist-father-of-the-pill-foresee-no-male-pill/|url-status=dead}}</ref> – something Djerassi himself did in the field of insecticides.

The topic of the fifth novel, ''Marx Deceased'', is the role of a writer's earlier bestsellers for the assessment of a new work – in contrast to the assessment of an anonymous work or one of a formerly unknown author.<ref name=MarxReview>{{cite journal|title='Marx, Deceased' by Carl Djerassi (Review)|journal=Kirkus Reviews|date=August 2, 1996|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carl-djerassi-4/marx-deceased-2/|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref> He also plays with this topic in ''Bourbaki Gambit''.

===Science-in-theatre===
After his success with prose literature in the Science-in-Fiction genre, Djerassi started to write plays.<ref name=SFGate>{{cite news|last1=Guthrie|first1=Julian|title=Act 2 for pill's inventor: Carl Djerassi writing plays at 91|url=http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Act-2-for-pill-s-inventor-Carl-Djerassi-5824940.php|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=SFGate|date=October 15, 2014}}</ref> Theatre, even more so than prose, seemed to fulfill his desire to work in a more “dialogical” environment than the monological natural sciences had allowed him to do.<ref name=Guardian2014>{{cite news|last1=Trueman|first1=Matt|title=New play by Carl Djerassi, inventor of the pill, explores philosophers' sex lives|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/29/carl-djerassi-inventor-pill-sex-lives-philosophers-foreplay|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=The Guardian|date=April 29, 2014}}</ref> According to British director Andy Jordan, who has produced all of his plays in England, Djerassi's dramatic works are "not wholly or straightforwardly naturalistic or realistic […but] avowedly text-driven, where ideas, themes, words and language were majorly important, a fact I had always to be conscious of as the director.2<ref name="Jordan">Andi Jordan, "Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Theatre Plays: The Theatrical Realization," in: Walter Grünzweig, ed., ''The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts'', Berlin et al.: Lit Verlag, 2012, p. 119.</ref>

Djerassi's first play, ''An Immaculate Misconception'' (1998), dealing with the in vitro fertilization procedure ICSI,<ref name=Levy2000>{{cite news|last1=Levy|first1=Dawn|title=Djerassi's science-in-fiction explores sex and reproduction|url=http://news.stanford.edu/pr/00/0002231djerassi.html|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=Stanford News Service|date=February 23, 2000|archive-date=April 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408200821/http://news.stanford.edu/pr/00/0002231djerassi.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> was followed by two plays about priority struggles in the history of science, ''Oxygen'' (co-authored with [[Roald Hoffmann]], 1999)<ref name=Stanford2001>{{cite news|last1=Zare|first1=Richard N.|title=Play co-authored by Carl Djerassi offers caricature of Nobel Prize selection process|url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2001/october3/nobel-oxygen103.html|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=Stanford Report|date=October 3, 2001}}</ref> and ''Calculus'' (2002),<ref name=Campos>{{cite news|last1=Campos|first1=Liliane|title=Examining Newton's darker side|url=http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2004/aug/09/examining-newtons-darker-side|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=Physics World|date=August 9, 2004}}</ref> and a drama at the intersection of chemistry and art history, ''Phallacy'' (2004).<ref name=Rohn>{{cite news|last1=Rohn|first1=Jennifer|title=Science and Art go head-to-head|url=http://www.lablit.com/article/30|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=LabLit.com|date=April 23, 2005}}</ref> ''Ego'' (2003, also produced under the title ''Three on a Couch''),<ref name="Grünzweig">Walter Grünzweig, ed., ''The SciArtist: Carl Djerassi's Science-in-Literature in Transatlantic and Interdisciplinary Contexts'', Berlin et al.: Lit Verlag, 2012.</ref> together with the docudrama ''Four Jews on Parnassus'' (2006, publ. 2008)<ref name=Four>{{cite news|title=Featured Research – Play Highlights Literary Career of Renowned Chemist, Carl Djerassi|url=http://shc.stanford.edu/news/research/featured-research-play-highlights-literary-career-renowned-chemist-carl-djerassi|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=Stanford Humanities Center|date=February 1, 2010|archive-date=February 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203135429/http://shc.stanford.edu/news/research/featured-research-play-highlights-literary-career-renowned-chemist-carl-djerassi|url-status=dead}}</ref> and ''Foreplay'' (2010),<ref name=Guardian2014/> are the only three dramatic pieces that do not deal with science-in-literature but rather carry the notion of intellectual competitiveness into literature, philosophy and the humanities. ''Taboos'' (2006), a complex play between reproductive, gender and political issues, returns to Djerassi's central concerns as a scientist;<ref name=NYT2008>{{cite news|last1=Genzlinger|first1=Neil|title=Who's Your Daddy? Your Uncle|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/theater/reviews/24tabo.html|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=September 24, 2008}}</ref> his 2012 play ''Insufficiency'' is a bitter satire of both the scientific community and academic environments.<ref name=SFGate/> ''[[ICSI, sex in the age of mechanical reproduction]]'' (2002), was taken to theaters and also to classrooms as a pedagogic wordplay, in many countries, including Spain and Argentina (by collaboration with Dr [[Àgata Baizán]] and Alberto Diaz) where it opened the VIII Latinoamerican and Caribbean Biotechnology meeting [[Red Biotechnology|REDBIO]]-Argentina 2013 and featured in universities and theaters.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Djerassi|first=Carl|date=April 10, 2021|title=Performance Schedule of ICSI (a pedagogic wordplay for two voices)|url=http://www.djerassi.com/classroom/index.html|url-status=live|website=Djerassi|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020604190159/http://www.djerassi.com:80/classroom/index.html |archive-date=2002-06-04 }}</ref>

As in his novels, Djerassi's plays incorporate the life and achievements of (sometimes famous) scientists as well as new scientific technologies. The science in his plays is always scientifically plausible although the dramatic personae and locations are fictitious.<ref name=Valsler>{{cite news|last1=Valsler|first1=Ben|title=Carl Djerassi – chemistry and theatre|url=http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/09/carl-djerassi-chemistry-art-fiction-theatre|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=Chemistry World|date=September 30, 2014}}</ref> By placing scientists and research into dramatic worlds, he raises critical questions about the sciences as cultural systems and looks into internal conflicts and contradictions in science and between scientists.<ref name=Priest>{{cite book |editor-last1=Priest|editor-first1=Susanna Hornig|title=Encyclopedia of science and technology communication|date=2010|publisher=SAGE|location=Thousand Oaks, Calif.|isbn=978-1-4129-5920-9|page=742|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l1F2AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA742|access-date=February 2, 2015|chapter=Science Theater}}</ref> The constant competition between them, the need for priority in new scientific discoveries even if the required speed necessitates risky and immoral means, as well as the problematic consequences of new discoveries are important topics of the plays.
 
Connected with many of these questions is the role of women in the sciences (including researchers’ wives and female friends). Djerassi's plays recognize the special contributions women make as scientists and to science, both directly and indirectly. His female characters are usually depicted as strong and independent, proving a strong impact of feminist thinking on his work.<ref name="Grünzweig"/>

Djerassi's plays have found their way into theaters around the globe and have been translated into many European and Asian languages.<ref name=SFGate/> Djerassi repeatedly revised his plays and some of them have different versions and multiple endings<ref name=Oxygen3>{{cite news|title=Good Chemistry Yields 'Oxygen'|url=http://www.djerassi.com/oxygen3/|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=Science & Technology|date=April 30, 2001}}</ref> (especially ''An Immaculate Misconception'': the nationalities of the main characters vary, also the endings). Where possible, Djerassi also cooperated with directors in the production of dramatic performances.<ref name=Curtain>{{cite news|last1=Calamia|first1=Donald V.|title=Curtain Calls|url=http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=15585|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=Between the Lines News|date=September 1, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202185433/http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=15585|archive-date=February 2, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> All of his plays have been published in book form, many of them in a number of languages. Some of them can be downloaded from his website.

=== Poetry ===
Djerassi wrote numerous poems that were published in journals or anthologies. Some of the poems reflected his life as a chemist (e.g. ''Why are chemists not poets'' or ''The clock runs backwards''), others his personal life (e.g. ''A Diary of Pique'').<ref name=Dardis>{{cite news|last1=McNamee|first1=Dardis|title=Carl Djerassi: The Poet of Progressive Science|url=http://www.viennareview.net/commentary/kaffeehaus/carl-djerassi-the-poet-of-progressive-science|access-date=February 2, 2015|work=The Vienna Review|date=June 19, 2012|archive-date=February 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202184608/http://www.viennareview.net/commentary/kaffeehaus/carl-djerassi-the-poet-of-progressive-science|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>''The Clock Runs Backwards'', Brownsville, OR: Story Line Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0-934257-75-2}}</ref><ref>''A Diary of Pique/ Tagebuch des Grolls'', Haymon Verlag, Innsbruck, 2012. {{ISBN|978-3-85218-719-8}}</ref>
{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf= 108518014}}

===Non-fiction===
*''Optical Rotatory Dispersion'', McGraw-Hill & Company, 1960.
*''The Politics of Contraception''<ref>''The Politics of Contraception'', New York & London: W. W. Norton, 1979. {{ISBN|0-393-01264-6}}</ref>
*''Steroids Made it Possible''<ref>''Steroids Made it Possible'', Washington, DC: [[American Chemical Society]], 1990. {{ISBN|0-8412-1773-4}} </ref>
*''The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse''<ref>''The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse'', Basic Books, 1992. {{ISBN|0-465-05758-6}} (autobiography)</ref> 
*''From the Lab into The World: A Pill for People, Pets, and Bugs''<ref>''From the Lab into The World: A Pill for People, Pets, and Bugs'', American Chemical Society, 1994. {{ISBN|0-8412-2808-6}}</ref>
*''Paul Klee: Masterpieces of the Djerassi Collection''<ref>''Paul Klee: Masterpieces of the Djerassi Collection'', (coeditor), Prestel Publishing, 2002. {{ISBN|3-7913-2779-8}}</ref>
*''Dalla pillola alla penna''<ref>''Dalla pillola alla penna'', Di Renzo Editore, 2004. {{ISBN|88-8323-086-8}}</ref>
*''This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill''<ref>''This Man's Pill: Reflections on the 50th Birthday of the Pill'', Oxford University Press, USA, 2004. {{ISBN|0-19-860695-8}} (autobiography)</ref>
*''In Retrospect : From the Pill to the Pen''<ref>''In Retrospect : From the Pill to the Pen'', Imperial College Press, USA, 2014. {{ISBN|978-1-78326-532-9}} (autobiography)</ref>

===Fiction===
* ''Cantor's Dilemma'', 1989<ref name=dilemma>''Cantor's Dilemma'', Penguin, 1989. {{ISBN|0-14-014359-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Review of ''Cantor's Dilemma'' by Carl Djerassi|date=September 1, 1989|website=Kirkus Reviews|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carl-djerassi-2/cantors-dilemma/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Review of ''Cantor's Review'' by Carl Djerassi|date=October 1, 1989|website=Publishers Weekly|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-26183-8}}</ref>
* ''The Bourbaki Gambit'', 1994<ref>''The Bourbaki Gambit'', Penguin, 1994. {{ISBN|0-14-025485-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Review of ''The Bourbaki Gambit'' by Carl Djerassi|website=Kirkus Reviews|date=October 1, 1994|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carl-djerassi-3/the-bourbaki-gambit-2/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Review of ''The Bourbaki Gambit'' by Carl Djerassi|website=Publishers Weekly|date=August 29, 1994|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8203-1652-9}}</ref>
* ''The Futurist and Other Stories''<ref>''The Futurist and Other Stories'', London & Sydney: Macdonald, 1989. {{ISBN|0-356-17500-6}}</ref>
* ''How I Beat Coca-Cola and Other Tales of One-Upmanship''<ref>''How I Beat Coca-Cola and Other Tales of One-Upmanship'', Madison: Terrace Books/U Wisconsin P, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-299-29504-2}}</ref>
* ''Marx, Deceased. A Novel'', 1996<ref>''Marx, Deceased. A Novel'', Athens & London: U of Georgia P, 1996. {{ISBN|0-8203-1835-3}}</ref>
* ''Menachem's Seed. A Novel'', 1997<ref>''Menachem's Seed. A Novel'', Athens & London: U Georgia P, 1997. {{ISBN|0-8203-1925-2}}</ref>
* ''NO. A Novel'', 1998<ref>''NO. A Novel'', Athens & London: The U of Georgia P, 1998. {{ISBN|0-8203-2032-3}}</ref>

===Drama===
*''Chemistry in Theatre: Insufficiency, Phallacy or Both''<ref>''Chemistry in Theatre: Insufficiency, Phallacy or Both'', Imperial College Press, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-84816-937-1}}</ref>
*''Foreplay: Hannah Arendt, the Two Adornos, and Walter Benjamin''<ref>''Foreplay: Hannah Arendt, the Two Adornos, and Walter Benjamin'', Madison: U Wisconsin P, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-299-28334-6}}</ref>
*''Four Jews on [[Parnassus]]''
*''An Immaculate Misconception: Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction''<ref name=immaculate>''An Immaculate Misconception: Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction'', London: Imperial College Press, 2000. {{ISBN|1-86094-248-2}} (adapted from the novel ''Menachem's Seed'')</ref>
**L.A. Theatre Works<ref>L.A. Theatre Works,  Audio Theatre Collection CD, 2004. {{ISBN|1-58081-286-4}}</ref>
*[[Oxygen (play)|''Oxygen'']] (with [[Roald Hoffmann]], coauthor)<ref>''Oxygen'' (with [[Roald Hoffmann]], coauthor), Weinheim et al.: WILEY-VCH, 2001. {{ISBN|3-527-30413-4}}</ref>
*''Newton's Darkness: Two Dramatic Views''<ref>''Newton's Darkness: Two Dramatic Views'', (with David Pinner, coauthor), London: Imperial College Press, 2004. {{ISBN|1-86094-390-X}}</ref>
*''Sex in an Age of Technological Reproduction: [[Intracytoplasmic sperm injection|ICSI]] and TABOOS''<ref>''Sex in an Age of Technological Reproduction: ICSI and TABOOS'', Madison: U Wisconsin P, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-299-22790-6}}</ref> translated to Spanish and brought to scene by Dr. [[Àgata Baizán]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Djerassi|first=Carl|url=https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/Ficha/9786071620934/F|title=Ciencia en Teatro – Cuatro Obras|publisher=Fondo de Cultura Económico|year=2014|isbn=978-607-16-1969-3|location=Mexico|pages=191–355|translator-last=Baizán|translator-first=Àgata|translator-last2=Hernández|translator-first2=Jorge F.}}</ref>