Mary Shelley Or, The Gothic Novelist.

Looking back over my posts I noticed that while I had touched often upon my favorite authors and works in science fiction I was mostly listing men. This is a terrible error on my part. Science fiction is a male-dominated genre, both in writers and in fans, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been plenty of women writers well worth mentioning. So, to rectify that severe lack I thought I could talk about one female author who wrote some science fiction that you’re probably familiar with.

Her name is Mary Shelley.

Frankenstein is arguably one of the “first” science fiction novels. Certainly it is one of the more famous and conventionally acceptable ones. I think most people have to read it at some point in their academic careers. I know that I’ve had to read it twice while at Fordham and once was in my freshman year composition and rhetoric class. Even if you haven’t read it (and you should!) everyone pretty much knows the story by this point. Frankenstein has been so swallowed by our popular culture that the monster is an iconic Halloween decoration and Victor Frankenstein is synonymous with any mad scientist. This book, written by a 19 year old mind you, was so undeniably groundbreaking when it came out that no one would believe that Percy Shelley hadn’t actually written it.

Mary Shelley takes the debate that was being waged in the scientific field at the time and extrapolates on it. Is there a soul? Should men play God? What makes a human being human? She creates two distinct viewpoints, two strong characters whose experiences beg for our sympathy while simultaneously being totally at odds. Personally, I’ve always had a soft spot for Victor, neurotic and isolated as he forced himself to be, over the monster, abandoned by his creator sure but also ill-tempered and cruel. The fact that people can still have discussion about who the real monster is shows that Shelley’s plot is sound and her prose evocative and meaningful.

However this is not Shelley’s only foray into the field of science fiction. She wrote another novel called The Last Man which in an apocalyptic novel. This one isn’t as widely talked about at Frankenstein though I enjoyed it myself. It takes place in a future where the earth has been ravaged by a plague. It shares some of its thematic concerns with Frankenstein though explored in different ways. Loneliness, the place and failure or science, and the Romantic ideals were espoused by the literary circle she was in all appear in the tale. For me, The Last Man has a more somber tone than Frankenstein and isn’t as easy to breeze through enjoyably.  As there are more characters there is much more at stake and while Victor eventually loses everything he is the only character other than the monster that the reader has emotionally invested in. Unless you’re like me and love Clerval. Poor, poor Clerval!

If you’re looking for a good summer beach read neither of these books is probably what you’re looking for. Sure, the cool descriptions of mountains and artic wastes might be a nice change of pace from the heat but the subject matter might put a bit of a damper on your fun. Read these on one of those summer thunderstorm days and get the real effect of the horror of the stories!