by Pete Orford
published in 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century, No. 10 (2010).
Dickens didn’t write science fiction - or did he? More to the point, why on earth wouldn’t Dickens write science... more
Dickens didn’t write science fiction - or did he? More to the point, why on earth wouldn’t Dickens write science fiction? In an era when writers were experimenting more and more with the fusion of science and the unknown in their fiction writing, the apparent absence of such a work by Dickens appears conspicuous. This paper addresses this issue by exploring the confused beginnings of science fiction how problematic searches for early science fiction can be, and how the consideration of Dickens exposes, exacerbates and addresses this problem. Having argued the right to search for themes relevant to SF in Dickens’ works, the paper then capitalises on this with a detailed study of robotics in Great Expectations, seeking out ways in which Dickens’ novel resonates with early robot fiction of the nineteenth century, in particular through the inhumanity of Estella, and the way in which both she and Pip are ’made’ by Miss Havisham and Magwitch respectively. Ultimately the paper aims to show that all pre-twentieth century writing, including Dickens, does indeed have a place in the study of science fiction, by breaking down the idea of isolated science fiction writers and replacing it with that of a literary context in which science fiction was bubbling under a diverse range of works.
Download (.pdf) 