Frankenstein remembered, and well loved
Written: Nov 13 '01 (Updated Nov 25 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Successful pastiche of the original, not an easy accomplishment
Cons: Not really any great faults, Ive got a lot of respect for this one
The Bottom Line: Read this if you enjoyed Frankenstein, and would like to enjoy a commentary and re-exploration of the Frankenstein world and themes.
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| snpmurray's Full Review: Frankenstein Unbound Books |
Frankenstein Unbound by Brian Aldiss is an novel mixture of historical drama, science fiction, and pastiche on the work of Mary Shelley. For any fan of the Shelley’s original Frankenstein, it is an irresistibly fascinating read!
Certainly, Mary Wollenstonecraft Godwin (Later Mary Shelley) could not have realized , but she was writing arguably the first ever work of science fiction. Aldiss bows to this achievement in writing this novel, exploring the Frankenstein world anew, and paying full respect to the original.
The story begins in the mid twenty-first century. Joe Bodenland is an unremarkable small-time politician, and family man. In his time on Earth however, the most remarkable events are occurring. A long war between opposing superpowers rages. Nuclear weapons of ever-increasing magnitude have been used in the space surrounding our world, and unpredictable consequences have occurred. The unleashing of nuclear forces have damaged space-time itself. The past and the present have become unstable, unpredictably interchangeable. One may be thrust suddenly into another time, only to return moments later, or never to return at all.
Naturally, this has come as “a bit of a shock.”
In due course, Joe , his house, his entire household, and his groovy nuclear car are cast back in time. There they sit… their plot, complete with garden fences and small orchard, now transplanted, and plonked down in the foothills of Swiss Alps.
Clearly unsatisfied with mere misfortune, Joe feels the need to add mind-boggling stupidity to his day, and decides to leave his transplanted plot, and go for a drive. Of course, by the time he returns, his household and land has returned from whence it came. Joe Bodenland is suddenly a castaway, he knows not where nor when.
So ends the first part of the book. From here on in, the book is a transcript from tape journals kept by Bodenland on his adventures. He quickly discovers he is in 19th century Switzerland, close to Geneva. Just as quickly, he learns that all local gossip concerns a death in Society. It seems a trial is underway concerning a member of House Frankenstein.
House Frankenstein? Nothing more than a fictional family, surely….but not so, at least not here.
Bodenland goes on to discover that Victor and his family are real in this place. Furthermore, Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley are just down the road in Plainpalais. Enjoying a vacation at Byron’s country home, Mary Shelley is writing Frankenstein at this moment, unaware that the characters and events she writes are becoming solid reality as she writes them.
Weird, eh?
Bodenland is curiously exhilarated by this arrangement of circumstances. He feels himself to be a new man, with new levels of bravery and daring-do, so far removed from his normal life. He knows the horrors which Shelley will write into the later chapters of her book, and resolves to destroy the creature, and its master before things can come to a head. So unfolds an intricate and admirable adventure.
Bodenland seeks the creature through its troubled creator, from whom it is never far. He learns that Frankenstein is working on a mate for the creature, in return for which it has promised to banish itself to the dark regions of the earth. Of course, Frankenstein is not interested in having his work interfered with by a nosey fellow from two centuries in the future. He and his family put chase to Bodenland as he attempts to put chase to them, all the time also trying to persuade Shelley against the writing, succeeding only in seducing her. Poor chap.
Things become more and more complicated, more and more dangerous and outrageous as the spiral dance of Bodenland, the Frankensteins, and the creature itself proceeds. We enjoy historical scenes in 19th century Geneva, monster-survival tactics in the frigid Alps, and of course, the morbid fascinations of a tour of Frankenstein’s laboratory.
Can Bodenland destroy the creature and its master before more innocent people suffer for it? Can he avoid capture, and his own death for making a stand against such a family? Why don’t more people notice his cool car is a little out of place? These and more questions are sometimes only partially answered in this intriguing novel.
Right, so that’s the plot. Fair enough, decent material to work with. It is what Aldiss does with this material which is the real clincher in this book however. Brian Aldiss is clearly a fan of all things Frankenstein. This book is choc-a-block with asides which intelligently debate the ethics of creator and creation. Aldiss dabbles in discussion of nineteenth century culture , and how the movers and shakers of that century effected their future. Through the device of Mary Shelley, and the party of poets, Aldiss presents us with a picture of the hopes and dreams and naiveties of the intelligentsia of the time.
This novel is pastiche, as I said. Personally, I would not have been brave enough to attempt to do what Aldiss does here, but he pulls it off. I am full of admiration for the excellent job he does of balancing innovation and commentary with respectful mimicry. Many scenes are set exactly as they were in the original, and Aldiss succeeds in giving the book the “feel” of Frankenstein. Good pastiche should take the reader back to where beloved scenes are set in cherished memory, and allow us to re-walk that turf without necessarily trampling on the original memories. For this to be the case intelligent consideration must be given to making the new work different enough to have its own category. Aldiss use of concepts from science fiction work splendidly to this end. For me, certainly, I have encountered no problems of devaluation of the original work. For some reason, its easy to remember there wasn’t an atomically powered car with a huge kill-cannon stuck on top of it in Shelley’s original!
This book is a romp. A pure fantasy. A well-realized bow to one of the most memorable books of all time. If you like the original, you’ll like this. Despite the concepts from science fiction, this is more essentially a historical thriller. None the worse for that of course. Enjoy.
There are no scenes of right out violence, nor anything really of an offensive nature. This book is suitable for all.
Some of my other science fiction book reviews:
Rama Revealed
Prelude to Space
Stand on Zanzibar
The Demolished Man
The Stars my Destination
Cat's Cradle
The Gods Themselves
Watchmen
A Canticle for Leibowitz
The Hammer of God
The Left Hand of Darkness
Flowers for Algernon
Lord of Light
Rendevous with Rama
The Tombs of Atuan
The Dispossessed
I am Legend
The Einstein Intersection
Earth Abides
Peace on Earth
The Farthest Shore
Methuselah's Children
A Call to Arms
To your Scattered Bodies Go
The Lion of Comarre / Against the Fall of Night
To Say Nothing of the Dog
The Doomsday Book
Frankenstein Unbound
Batman - The Dark Knight Returns
Imperial Earth
A Case of Conscience
Solaris
The Sands of Mars
The Land of Laughs
Eden
His Masters Voice
Citizen of the Galaxy
King David's Spaceship
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Double Star
The Fabulous Riverboat
Songs of Distant Earth
Way Station
The Fountains of Paradise
The Long Tomorrow
Lincolns Dreams
Alas Babylon
More Than Human
1984
The Forever War
All the Myriad Ways
I Sing the Body Electric
Gateway
Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said
This Immortal
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Recommended:
Yes
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