Suicide in early science fiction
Authors
- Ruy Burgos-Lovèce (ES)
Abstract
The three stories analyzed in this article —Hoffmann’s The Sandman (1817), Mary Shelley’s The Mortal Immortal (1834) and Hawthorne’s Rappaccini’s Daughter (1844)— have been traditionally analyzed from the perspectives of fantastic and gothic literature. However, all three contain cognitive logic extrapolations of the scientific knowledge at the time of publication. Therefore, they comply with the requirements of science fiction and may be analyzed under the light of the science fiction reading protocol. Said perspective allows considering the improbable as literally real and makes it possible to incorporate such improbabilities into the analysis of the protagonists’ suicide projects. Additionally, the Frankenstein syndrome —according to which all scientific transgressions of natural law lead to destruction— is manifested in all three stories.
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