Genes and the Bioimaginary reflects on the rise and cultural apotheosis of the gene, examining the ?genetification? of culture and shedding light on emergence of the gene at the intersection of science and culture and as a product of science as culture. Employing a distinctive array of interdisciplinary analytic tools, it explores the rise of the gene in several respects: as a site of knowledge production crossing boundaries between the clinical-scientific and the popular; as a gateway technology and locus of transforming bioethical values and modes of bodily governance; and as site of spectacle, projective fantasy and attachment.