Mary Shelly's 1831 classic, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, is considered by many to have been one of the earliest science fiction novels. It is, of course, dear to me because of it's basis in biology, particularly the contemporary experiments on the effect of electricity on "reanimating" corpses.Shelley's work is revisited in John Kessel's "Pride and Prometheus", a nominee for this year's best novelette Hugo Award. Kessel has Dr. Victor Frankenstein meeting a young Miss Mary Bennet, Elizabeth Bennet's bookish younger sister in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Mary is a Natural History enthusiast, and her meeting with Frankenstein changes her life . . .
Read "Pride and Prometheus" at Fantasy & Science Fiction
Download John Kessel's The Baum Plan For Financial Independence and Other Stories (including "Pride and Prometheus") at Small Beer Press
Image: Illustration from the 1831 Edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Tags:science fiction, biology, Frankenstein, John Kessel
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Hugo nomination to a trite and cliche item ? Interesting !!
ReplyDeleteBut Austen is very trendy at the moment, what with "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" on the bestseller list. Not trendy enough to win the Hugo, though :)
ReplyDeleteArvind,
ReplyDeleteWhy does it have to be trite and cliche for people who want to learn more about "trends"and advances in technology and the new benefits and problems they will bring? Why not encourage debate instead of dismiss it? Sometimes ideas and information take years to get to the majority of the people out there whose society is affected by giant leaps in technology, and they probably will react positively and negatively anyway, so what's not to gain by encouraging and tracking the debate's progress, popularity and evolution?