Title: Frankenstein’s Children
Author: David Mace
Date of First Publication: 1990
Place of Publication: New English Library
Type: Novel
Characters: No Character
Themes: BYRONIC HERO; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; RACE/POLITICS
Critical Summary: David Mace’s novel Frankenstein’s Children is a political thriller set on a global stage. The book follows the exploits of several varying factions who are interconnected through the novel’s main conflict. Though the perspective shifts depending on which entities’ actions are being recounted, the main characters are the German biochemist, Christa Neiss, and the head of the American branch of corporate giant Hertzel-Konzern, Robert Walton (not the same Robert Walton as the one in Frankenstein). The conflict begins when the environmentalist group Pan Amazonas accuses Walton’s company of testing their experimental herbicide in the Amazonian Rainforest. Christa and Robert are dispatched to try to unveil the truth behind these allegations and get much more than they bargained for. They find devastated patches of rainforest and people dying of an unknown disease. Christa’s work reveals that it is not the company’s herbicide, but a man-made virus that is causing all the destruction. In their search for the virus’s origins, they follow a trail of clues from Northern England, to Boston, and back to South America. Their quest for answers ultimately concludes when they must choose to either protect the company’s and their own well being or that of the entire planet.
Frankenstein’s Children finds its strongest connection to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein in its break down of the relationship between creators and their creations. However, the narrative does not play this archetype in a conventional sense; it applies it to a variety of situations outside of the laboratory. When it comes to standard depictions, it is clearly seen on a microscopic level in the connection between the biochemist Victor Cappel and the designer disease he crafts. Victor is the typical Byronic mad scientist. Other characters often describe him as cloaked in an air of superiority. He is the best in his field and he knows it, relishing in his genius. Throughout the story, he is obsessed with proving the perfection of the disease he has made, without realizing that it has already been released to the world and is completely out of his control. Though his creation is not a man, it is still the formation of a being outside of the natural order. When discussing Victor’s actions, the characters frequently reference Frankenstein as a point of comparison. Interestingly, the characters also comment on the vampiric nature of viruses. Their ability to latch onto existing lives and corrupt them for their own purposes heavily relates to Mace’s commentary on class and politics. The novel’s political subtext provides another interesting rendition of the interplay between creator and creation. The title Frankenstein’s Children is a reference to the idea that all human beings have a bit of Victor Frankenstein in them. By extension, it develops a case that not just mad scientists but all humans create things that will inevitably control them. This is developed in its exploration of class divides and political conflicts. Just as Victor Cappel has made a virus that corrupts living things into copying and reproducing itself, humanity has built societies that manipulate mans’ actions into furthering its existence. The novel often shows characters suffering under corrupt political systems and corporate entities simply to propagate said countries’ or companies’ well being. Mace depicts a world where all of humanity is under the thumb of the societies and businesses they have meticulously constructed, while misguidedly believing they are still in control.
Administrative Notes: Nate Roe, CSUF; Lee Koehler, CSUF (editing)