Title: Prometheus Unbound, At Last

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Date of First Publication: 2005

Place of Publication: Nature (Nature Publishing Group)

Type: Short story

Themes:  POSTHUMAN; FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER

Critical Summary: Kim Stanley Robinson tells this short story through the guise of a book recommendation, with only references to the original book. The reader must piece the fragments into a coherent narrative with no specifics to characters. The overall message of the narrative is that science is ultimately useful and productive, but isn’t yet successful due to the lack of value placed on scientific knowledge. In the story, scientists work subserviently, like zombies—completely unaware of their true worth. Overpopulation becomes imminent due to rampant climate change. With this threat, the scientists awaken from their slumber to quickly work on a counter measure. Science triumphs in the political and corporate world. Logic and reason result in a positive feedback loop to preserve humanity, thereby nursing the planet Earth back to health.

The story is fairly simple: the underappreciated scientists spring into action when human extinction is imminent, take over the world, and save humanity. The narrative is like a love letter to Victor Frankenstein—an homage to the “mad scientist” archetype, in general, righting the dangers that Shelley’s novel Frankenstein unleashed. The title itself, “Prometheus Unbound, At Last,” is a clear reference to Percy Shelley’s play “Prometheus Unbound,” as well as to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’s subtitle, “The Modern Prometheus.” This reference to the Greek Titan who created humanity and introduced them to fire becomes a positive emblem of scientific advancement.

The dangers of overpopulation and climate change reflect some of the themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. There is a fear of Frankenstein that his creature will procreate and run amok in the world, putting humanity at risk of existence. Nature and the Creature are identified with one another, and Frankenstein’s Creature can survive extreme changes in the weather. The realization of the horrors unleashed by Frankenstein came too late for him; in this narrative, the solution to every problem was easily attained after a sole meeting of scientists, satirizing the common trope of science often being ignored by the general public until the situation is beyond salvageable.

Administrative Notes: Entry Author: J.D. Mayfield, CSUF.