Frankenstein Unbound

Aldiss no sólo tiene buenas ideas, también escribe bien. Y lo demuestra en este homenaje a Mary Shelley y a su inmortal obra.

'Frankenstein desencadenado' comienza mostrándonos a Joe Bodenland en Texas, en el año 2020. El mundo está en guerra, lo que ha provocado la ruptura del espacio-tiempo, causando el deslizamiento de zonas de este mundo hacia el pasado. En uno de estos deslizamientos, Bodenland llega al siglo XIX, a 1816. En esta realidad, se da la circunstancia de que coinciden tanto él, como Mary Shelley, Percy, Polidori y Byron, así como Frankenstein y su Criatura. Una vez se da cuenta del entorno en el que se encuentra, Bodenland nos narrará mediante un diario todas sus aventuras. Al mismo tiempo, se encomendará una show more misión: acabar con el monstruo.

Mediante un lenguaje evocador y poético, Aldiss nos describe los encuentros con estos personajes, así como la figura atormentada de Frankenstein. También aprovecha para reflexionar sobre el progreso, el tiempo y la ética. Sin duda, nos encontramos, no sólo ante un clásico de la ciencia ficción, sino también ante una gran novela. show less

I don't understand why this book is so well regarded. It's not old enough for this to be a problem of time either. Written in the early 70s, Frankenstein Unbound doesn't work regardless of allowances made for age. The plot of the novel takes place in the year 2020 after a nuclear war has opened a rift in the space time continuum. Yeah, I'm serious. This rift has allowed the narrator to fall through time back to the age of Frankenstein and his creator Victor.

Except it actually takes him to a parallel universe, since these were fictional characters even in his world. Also, Mary Shelley is there and doesn't realize her book has come true, until the narrator tells her. She hasn't even finished writing it yet. They also have a short-lived show more romantic encounter. He also pawns his uranium powered watch in this era for cash. I mean, at some point, it just becomes silly. The science is junk and the plot can't overcome it. The narrator seems, to be frank, quite stupid and that isn't intentional. His reactions to events lack realism. The reaction of characters to him lack believability. If you are going to go play with classic characters and classic historical figures, you better know what you are doing. Aldiss had no clue in this novel. I just can't figure out why it is regarded so well. On some level, the Shelleys and Lord Byron actually weren't terrible in terms of characterization. It seemed like Aldiss wanted to write a novel about them, and was using the paper thin plot as a justification to do it. But it isn't worth diving into this whirlpool for a very tiny pearl.

Don't let this book ruin Aldiss for you though. Hothouse, while not perfect, is vastly superior and a must read. show less

This is the first novel in Brian Aldiss's monster trilogy; I unwittingly read the later novel Dracula Unbound first, two months ago. In this one it is 2020 (the book was published in 1973, when that was still the fairly far future), when increasing stability in the space time continuum is causing timeslips, one of which sends Joseph Bodenland back to 1816 Switzerland. He meets Mary Shelley, plus Percy and Lord Byron, during the summer the former wrote her masterpiece, Frankenstein. There are some great scenes where Bodenland interacts with these literary giants, revelling in their speculative thinking, way ahead of its time, but very unrealistically idealistic from a 21st century view point. However, time is more mixed up than he thinks show more - in this version of 1816, while Mary Shelley still wrote Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is also a real person who created a real monster, and its female partner, which Bodenland pledges to hunt down, to prevent what he sees as the impact of Frankenstein's amoral scientific endeavour on his own present day situation. The novel is thus a perhaps slightly awkward amalgam of literary homage, Gothic horror and thriller chase. I found the ending slightly unsatisfactory. show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2684342.html

I had not actually read this before - but I had long ago listened to a 1978 commercially released cassette recording of Brian Aldiss actually reading the book. The tapes together were only 2h42m, so it must have been somewhat abridged (though the book is anyway only 216 pages).

Aldiss is at his best when he examines fragmentation and transition. (That's why the first two Helliconia books are much better than the third.) Here, his protagonist, Joe Bodenland, is yanked from the world of 2020, recovering from a global conflict where space and time have come adrift, and deposited in Switzerland in 1816, in both the world of Mary Shelley and the Villa Deodati and the world of Frankenstein's Geneva show more which she invented. Bodenland weaves in and out of both stories, making love to Mary, pursuing the monster, ending in the middle of nowhere anticipating doom. Given Aldiss's own reverence for Shelley as the originator of science fiction (two hundred years ago this summer) there's a lot going on here, and I don't feel fully able to unpack it, but I really liked it.

The 1990 film starred John Hurt as the protagonist (renamed Buchanan, which may be easier to say but has less linguistic resonance), Bridget Fonda as Mary Shelley and Raul Julia as Frankenstein. I may even try and watch it some time. show less

Well written, weaves around the Mary Shelley story in an interesting way.
Never really got what the point of it was though.

Brian Aldiss held my attention for several days with this book, but left me confused as to whether this was an attempt to write a piece of what came to be called steam punk, or an involved literary puzzle, like the Jasper Fforde Thursday Next, novels. still, it's worth reading, and gives a bit of depth to those more interested in the doctor than the monster.

This is the book that the Roger Corman movie was (loosely) based on.
I actually thought the film, although definitely a 'B-movie' did a better job in some respects of delineating the parallels between the sci-fi scenario that Aldiss sets up and the classic story of Frankenstein.
In the 21st century, nuclear war in space has ruptured the space-time continuum, causing bizarre 'time-slips.' Caught in one of these, an influential man finds himself 200 years in the past - but a past where it seems that the fictional story of Frankenstein is fact. We meet our infamous scientist, and our protagonist is soon caught up in trying to save an innocent woman from being executed for a killing committed by the monster.
Another 'slip' occurs, and our show more protagonist now finds himself some months later, in what may or may not be a different reality again, hanging out with Byron, Shelley and Mary Godwin (soon-to-be Mary Shelley).
Reality seems to be unraveling. Our protagonist becomes somewhat obsessed with tracking down the monster in his 21st-century car and killing it.
But is the real problem that humanity, in whatever century one may be in, seeks out forbidden and dangerous knowledge, as the original Frankenstein illustrates? Or is it the human hatred of and violence toward anything different and unknown?

This short, philosophical novel is really Aldiss' musings on these issues. It's OK, but perhaps could have been better executed. I liked how, in the movie, the protagonist was actually a scientist responsible for the device which caused the timeslips, setting up a nice parallel between him and Dr. Frankenstein. In the book, he's just a random guy, it seems. show less