“Electricity” plays in key role in the plot of: Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein“, 1818 was the topic of an earlier blog post. “Frankenstein”, 1818 is usually considered the first “true” SciFi novel. The protagonist “Doctor Victor Frankenstein” creates a living creature from “electricity” applied to dead tissues. Thus, the “monster” is not the creature; but, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is a “monster”. The role played by the “electricity” in Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein”, 1818 was an historic first in SciFi novels
The photographs above & below of: Franklin Electric Discharge Machine (above) & Leyden Electric Jars (below) are among the things that moved out of Benjamin Franklin’s book into
SciFi novels. Steampunk” and Clockpunk” are the core subgenres of SciFi (shown in the diagram below). SciFi is a Speculative Fiction that based upon a “what if” statement. The “steam engine” and the “pocket-watch, timekeeper” were the inventions that gave raise to “steampunk” and “clockpunk”. “Electrical” energy was not part of either “thermal” energy steampunk ;or, “mechanical” energy” clockpunk. “Electrical” energy is the core today of electronic, computer “cyberpunk”. “Punk” in SciFi is the retro-age used again in the present.
