SIR PAUL NURSE’S GENETICIST’S TALES - CASE STUDY OF A COMPLEX FAMILY TREE NARRATIVE

Abstract

This study examines the autobiographical narrative of the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Sir Paul Nurse, to explore the intersection of genetics, identity, and familial secrecy. Employing a structuralist-folkloric framework rooted in Vladimir Propp’s morphology and the Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification, alongside psychoanalytic theories from Carl Jung and Julia Kristeva, the analysis traces Nurse’s journey from perceived familial difference to the revelation of his illegitimacy and concealed maternity. The narrative parallels folktale motifs, such as ATU 926 ("Judgment of Solomon") and ATU  930B ("The Predestined Wife"), while engaging themes of recognition (Aristotle’s anagnorisis), revolt (Kristeva’s self-authorship), and ethical ambiguity (Žižek’s traumatic Real). The findings highlight how personal mythmaking reconciles scientific rationality with archetypal narratives, offering a model for identity reconstruction in empirical paradigms