Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between

Microbiologist Osmundson (Capsid) probes the relationship between humans and viruses in this superb essay collection. “On Replication” reminds that, while “there are 250 million viruses in every 0.001 liter of ocean water,” they can’t replicate on their own. In “On War,” Osmundson questions the use of martial rhetoric to describe outbreaks: “Wars are won through mass death. A virus will never be dominated,” he suggests, recommending an approach to quarantine and social distancing that’s based on care and community. “On Going Viral” is a sharp look at “viral” content online, in which Osmundson makes a case that “most viruses do nothing. How boring, how painfully banal.” “On Endings” is a moving reflection on the HIV epidemic, in which Osmundson considers how “queer people provide a model... for living rightly in a wrong world.” Indeed, throughout, he cannily interweaves queer theory and science: “Queer childhood is waiting for the possibility to be—to make—one’s full self. Quarantine is putting the full possibility of social relations—one way to make oneself with others—on hold out of respect for the desire of living beings to keep on living,” he writes in “On Risk.” Original and bubbling with curiosity, this is a masterful achievement. (June)