Most people, myself included, think of science fiction as originating with Mary Shelley, or maybe Jules Verne (though he came considerably later). This anthology pulls from considerably earlier, going back to the Romantic period of literature, providing an interesting selection of stories that do indeed fit the definition of “science fiction” in every respect.
It’s an interesting selection of authors. Mary Shelley is indeed present, as are other not-surprising authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and HG Wells. I was not expecting to see Nathanial Hawthorn, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, or WEB DuBois.
There’s a hefty introduction from the editor going through the history of science fiction. This is a scholarly work more than a work of literature, and the intro is honestly rather dense and dry. The content is interesting, though.
The stories were super interesting. My favorite stories were Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (about a person held in suspension at the moment of death) and Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter” (about a girl raised by her scientist father to be imbued with, and inoculated against, a deadly poison). Somewhat surprised by the latter, because I absolutely despised The Scarlet Letter when I was forced to read it in high school.
But there were plenty of things that were interesting for other reasons. I expected 19th century racism and sexism to be present, and it was, but “The Red One” by Jack London may well be one of the most racist and sexist stories I’ve ever read. And I was rather taken aback in “The Diamond Lens” by Fitz-James O’Brien when the protagonist wasn’t willing to rob his neighbor, because he wasn’t a thief, but he had no problem with murdering his neighbor, because he was just a Jew.
Interesting, and educational. Not something I would want to read all at once - I read it a story at a time, spread out over a few months - but I’m glad I did.
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