Science Fiction Explored in Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The

The Legacy of Science Fiction Explored in Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Invisible Man Science Fiction is a branch of literature that explores the possibilities of human scientific advances, especially technological ones. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (published in 1818) was a precursor of the genre which was established by Jules Verne's novels of the late 1800's. HG Wells at the turn of the twentieth century brought more scientific rigour in his works, such as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds. Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke are among the most familiar writers of science fiction of the modern era (Cambridge Encyclopaedia, 1994). However, works from an earlier time, Frankenstein, Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and H.G.Wells' The Invisible Man, have had a profound influence on thinking about science and its relationship to humanity and the world we live in. [AU1]This essay explores the cultural legacy of these three works and seeks to explain why they have been so influential. Frankenstein explores many issues related to science and humanity[AU2]. Behrendt has identified some of the themes as individual and class alienation, social conditioning, gender stereotyping, conflict between rational intellect and intuitive emotion and the revisionist Romantic view of the relation between God and humanity [AU3](1990). Alienation is seen in the fact that Frankenstein left community to do his experiments, and refused to share with others what he had found; at the same time he utterly abandoned the life that he created (Madigan 2000, cited in Penner nd). [AU4]Gender stereotyping is noted by Johnson (1987) who sees the novel as the story of a man who usurps the female role b... ...984) Science and society: A brief look at the Invisible Man. The Wellsian, 7: 19-23[AU11] Suvin, D (1991) Wells as the Turning Point of SF tradition. In J Huntington (ed) (1991). Critical essays on H.G. Wells. Boston: G.K. Hall[AU12]. US National Library of Medicine (Feb 2002) Frankenstein: Penetrating the secrets of Nature. [Online] Available: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank.birth.html [Accessed 13 June 2002] [AU1]Thesis statement [AU2]Topic sentence [AU3]Year of pub put here to mark off Behrendt from next reference [AU4] Content-prominent reference because it is not controversial [AU5]Author-prominent because it is an opinion. [AU6]Topic sentence [AU7]Direct quotation [AU8]Link with preceding paragraph [AU9]Conclusion [AU10]Chapter in book edited by two authors [AU11]Journal article [AU12]Chapter in book edited by one author