Case Eight: Beyond <strong>our</strong> World Face this world. Learn its ways, watch it, be careful <strong>of</strong> too hasty guesses at its meaning. In the end you will find clues to it all. H.G. Wells, The Time Machine The genre <strong>of</strong> science fiction challenges the boundaries <strong>of</strong> <strong>our</strong> imaginations <strong>and</strong> pushes us into new realms <strong>of</strong> ideas that have not yet been conceived. Many <strong>of</strong> the movements within technology, medicine, philosophy, <strong>and</strong> ethics would not have been possible without the imaginations <strong>of</strong> creative writers who provided answers to the burning questions on which we had only just begun to speculate. What would happen if we could travel to the future? What would happen if aliens invaded? Can we create new species or artificial intelligence? When these questions were posed, they were as implausible as were the answers provided. For almost two hundred years writers have taken us to distant planets, unimaginable futures, <strong>and</strong> pushed nature to the limits. in doing so, they have made us believe that a future, utopian society is possible. However, alongside these j<strong>our</strong>neys were dystopic visions with colossal consequences for the future <strong>of</strong> humanity <strong>and</strong> society. As we j<strong>our</strong>ney to these visions beyond <strong>our</strong> world, we should do so cautiously. As the Time Traveller once said, muttering to himself in H. G. Well’s The Time Machine, ‘Face this world. Learn its ways, watch it, be careful <strong>of</strong> too hasty guesses at its meaning. in the end you will find clues to it all.’ 47. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851). Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus. London: H. Colburn <strong>and</strong> R. Bentley, 1831. Mary Shelley’s first novel Frankenstein, which was written when the author was eighteen, is <strong>of</strong>ten regarded as the first science fiction novel. While staying at Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva in the summer <strong>of</strong> 1816, Lord Byron challenged Shelley to write a ghost story. Little did Shelley know that her story would become one <strong>of</strong> the most significant narratives in literature <strong>and</strong> film. The story revolves around the tension between the protagonist, scientist Victor Frankenstein, <strong>and</strong> the antihero, the unnamed Creature, who was created by him. The novel deals with questions <strong>of</strong> alienation <strong>and</strong> human nature, wherein the Creature struggles with its creator <strong>and</strong> society to find a place in the world, with perilous consequences for the characters involved. The first popular edition <strong>of</strong> Frankenstein was the third, published in 1831 by Henry Colburn <strong>and</strong> Richard Bentley, as one <strong>of</strong> a series <strong>of</strong> monthly single-volume reprints. What distinguishes this edition from the previous two, published in 1818 <strong>and</strong> 1823 respectively, was that it was the first to feature an illustration <strong>of</strong> Frankenstein <strong>and</strong> the Creature, displaying the grotesque, inhuman-looking Creature sprawled over the floor next to his terrified creator. <strong>From</strong> <strong>Nowhere</strong>: <strong>Utopian</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Dystopian</strong> <strong>Visions</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>our</strong> Past, Present, <strong>and</strong> Future 63
48. The Coming Race, or, The New Utopia. 64 Case Eight: Beyond <strong>our</strong> World