Literature in the Victorian Era, that would later be referred to as “Science Fiction”, consists of an array of elements. This reflection will focus on the following four elements; dense physical description, the idea of the lonely scientist, the story’s own materiality, and the form of the frame narrative.
With little dialogue, “The Lifted Veil” is heavy with description. When Latimer recalls his entrance into Geneva, his physical description fits with the science fiction formal element, “dense physical description”; “When I was sixteen I was sent to Geneva to complete my course of education; and the change was a very happy one to me, for the first sight of the Alps, with the setting sun on them, as we descended the Jura, seemed to me like …show more content…
Latimer is not a scientist in the same light as Mary Shelley 's Dr. Frankenstein, but he has a significant difference that sets him apart from the rest of the community. His ability to see into the future and the thoughts of others, makes him an outcast in regards to society; “But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in close relation to me” (14). Latimer’s depression (an effect of his telepathic powers) creates a barrier between him and the rest of mankind; the isolation Latimer experiences is typical of science fiction literature. Latimer as a narrator is interesting, because the story is a first hand account; the reader doesn’t have any sort of voice that can back up what he is saying- not to say that the reader is left in the dark, however credibility shouldn’t be given without contemplation of what the actual message of the tale is. First person narratives, without the frame of the second voice brings in the concept of the unreliable narrator; how much of his “power” is truth? Are his telepathic tendencies reflections on the world around him? Reflections of his feelings of
With little dialogue, “The Lifted Veil” is heavy with description. When Latimer recalls his entrance into Geneva, his physical description fits with the science fiction formal element, “dense physical description”; “When I was sixteen I was sent to Geneva to complete my course of education; and the change was a very happy one to me, for the first sight of the Alps, with the setting sun on them, as we descended the Jura, seemed to me like …show more content…
Latimer is not a scientist in the same light as Mary Shelley 's Dr. Frankenstein, but he has a significant difference that sets him apart from the rest of the community. His ability to see into the future and the thoughts of others, makes him an outcast in regards to society; “But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in close relation to me” (14). Latimer’s depression (an effect of his telepathic powers) creates a barrier between him and the rest of mankind; the isolation Latimer experiences is typical of science fiction literature. Latimer as a narrator is interesting, because the story is a first hand account; the reader doesn’t have any sort of voice that can back up what he is saying- not to say that the reader is left in the dark, however credibility shouldn’t be given without contemplation of what the actual message of the tale is. First person narratives, without the frame of the second voice brings in the concept of the unreliable narrator; how much of his “power” is truth? Are his telepathic tendencies reflections on the world around him? Reflections of his feelings of