Paradises lost and regained in science fiction

Authors

  • Gabriele Cristina Borges de Morais UNESP-FCLAr

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9826.literartes.2023.187932

Keywords:

Science Fiction, Paradise Lost, Frankenstein, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Flowers for Algernon

Abstract

This article aims at analyzing the influence of John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost on science fiction novels. The artificial conception and the transgression against the creator, as well as their consequences, are themes widely explored in sci-fi, particularly in the novels Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), The Island of Doctor Moreau (H. G. Wells), and Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes). Besides the dialogue with Milton’s poem, we will also explore the social and scientific revolutions which occurred while these novels were written and which aroused the dilemmas of their authors.

Author Biography

  • Gabriele Cristina Borges de Morais, UNESP-FCLAr

    Doutoranda em Estudos Literários pela Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”
    – Campus Araraquara (UNESP-FCLAr); mestra em Estudos Literários pela mesma universidade e
    bacharela em Letras (Habilitação Português-Inglês) pela Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Campus
    Guarulhos (UNIFESP-EFLCH). Bolsista da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível
    Superior (CAPES). E-mail: gabriele.borges-morais@unesp.br

References

GILBERT, Sandra M. & GUBAR, Susan. Horror’s Twin: Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Eve. In: The Madwoman in the attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. 2nd. edition. New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2000. pp. 213-247

KEYES, David. Flores para Algernon. Tradução de Luisa Geisler. São Paulo: Aleph, 2018.

MILTON, John. Paraíso perdido (edição bilíngue). Tradução de Daniel Jonas. 2. ed. São Paulo: Editora 34, 2016.

POOVEY, Mary. The proper lady and the woman writer: Ideology as style in the works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and Jane Austen. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1984.

ROBERTS, Adam. Science Fiction. (The New Critical Idiom Series). 2nd. ed. London: Routledge, 2006.

SHELLEY, Mary. Frankenstein. Tradução de Márcia Xavier de Brito. Rio de Janeiro: DarkSide Books, 2017.

WELLS, H. G. The Island of Doctor Moreau. Disponível em: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/159/159-h/159-h.htm. Acesso em 19/02/2021.

Published

2023-12-20

How to Cite

MORAIS, Gabriele Cristina Borges de. Paradises lost and regained in science fiction. Literartes, São Paulo, Brasil, v. 1, n. 18, p. 173–196, 2023. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2316-9826.literartes.2023.187932. Disponível em: https://www.revistas.usp.br/literartes/article/view/187932.. Acesso em: 17 jun. 2024.