Title: Pride and Prometheus
Author: John Kessel
Date of First Publication: January 2008
Place of First Publication: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Type: Short story
Character: Victor Frankenstein, The Creature, Henry Clerval
Themes: ANDROID; BYRONIC HERO; FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER; RETRO SF; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; RACE/POLITICS
Critical Summary: An imaginative mash-up between Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the reader is introduced to the main character, Mary Bennet, eight years after the events of Pride and Prejudice. Mrs. Bennet, having three of her daughters already married, has given up on Mary and moved straight on to finding a husband for Kitty, their youngest unmarried daughter. Mary, like Elizabeth, is an avid reader; however she is more interested in natural sciences and philosophies than the novels her sister read.
At a dance, Mary meets two young “Dutchmen” one “tall, fair-haired” the other was “a darker, brooding young man”. These men were Henry Clerval and Victor Frankenstein, respectively. Mary and Victor bond over their shared interest in the Natural Sciences, though he seems reluctant to go into too much detail about his past. Eventually she learns that he has escaped his native Switzerland following the death of his brother, at the hands of their family maid, Justine, allegedly.
After she and her younger sister, Kitty, are chased on the grounds of Pemberley by a disfigured human figure, Victor describes how he created a creature out of the remains of corpses and brought it to life, along with the other events of Frankenstein.
After Kitty falls ill and dies, her body is stolen from Pemberley. She and Victor part, as he must travel. While mourning, she encounters the Creature and the two have a conversation where he reveals to her that he had ordered Victor to claim Kitty’s body. The story ends with Mary having read an article regarding the arrest and release of Victor for the murder of Clerval, as well as reports of a dead woman’s body being recovered from a lake; leading Mary to believe that the Creature had yet to find a mate.
One of the highlights of this work, other than it keeps very much in tone with Austen’s writing style and themes, was the conversation Mary has towards the end of the story with the Creature. In this scene, they argue over the nature and variety of human relationships, as well as the politics of rejection, with Mary pointing out the entitlement men have towards women’s affections. Gender is a very big part of the story. Mary is seen as “monstrous” because she isn’t as beautiful as her sisters. However, she is also seen as monstrous because of her interest in science and lack of “worldly experience”. In the end however, although Mary is without a husband, she is loved by her nieces and nephews, successful as a writer, and trusted in matters of love.
Administrative Notes: Louis A. Magallanes Jr., CSUF. Edited by Molly Robertson, CSUF