杏吧原创

WHEN literary novelists try their hand at science fiction, the results can be mixed. Refreshingly, Jeanette Winterson鈥檚 Frankissstein: A Love Story is a wildly inventive reimagining of one of science fiction鈥檚 most beloved stories.

Published a year after the bicentenary of Mary Shelley鈥檚 Frankenstein, the novel offers parallel stories of 鈥渇uture fear鈥�. One is a fragmented, fictionalised account of Shelley鈥檚 life set against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution and its attendant horrors. In it, Mary Shelley鈥檚 stepsister Claire Clairmont taunts her lover, the moody poet and literary celebrity Lord Byron, with the possibility of a mechanical loom capable of writing poetry. Later, Byron鈥檚 daughter, Ada Lovelace, dreamily contemplates a computer as big as a city, capable of housing (and mimicking) all strains of human life.

Alongside this story runs a modern-day narrative in which transgender surgeon Ry Shelley assists tech savant Victor Stein in听his attempt to create an artificial听intelligence. It is populated with eccentrically reworked characters from Shelley鈥檚 life: Ron Lord, the venereal AI sexbot manufacturer; Polly D, an investigative journalist (a play on John Polidori, Shelley鈥檚 friend and inventor of the modern vampire story); and Claire, this time round the organiser of a World Barbecue Cooking Contest.

The novel careers wildly between different styles, at times lyrical, gloriously raunchy, pulpy and absurd. But in Winterson鈥檚 hands, a strange amalgam emerges.

What is the mind? Where does the physical end and the spiritual (or indeed intellectual) begin? How do our bodies shape our experiences? What is love? If the future of AI frightens some characters, whether they live in the past or in Winterson鈥檚 twisted present, others find unexpected consolations in the prospect of artificial companionship. Even the听coarsest of Winterson鈥檚 cast prove themselves capable of contributing to the conversation.

Exhalation, the second collection of previously published short stories (and two originals) from Ted Chiang, whose 鈥淪tory of听Your Life鈥� was thoughtfully adapted for the screen as Arrival, also moves with ease between the听scientific and the fantastical.

鈥淭he Lifecycle of Software Objects鈥� follows a former zookeeper, Ana Alvaredo, as she raises听an intelligent digital pet over a period of 20 years. Chiang avoids dystopian temptations, preferring instead a clear-eyed and听even-handed reconnaissance of new technologies. Alvaredo鈥檚 relationship with her 鈥渄igient鈥� raises ethical questions about the听nature of sentient life, and the听existential threat posed to听artificial life by technical obsolescence.

鈥淥mphalos鈥�, by contrast, a story听original to this volume, eschews realism to imagine a world in which the dating of trees reveals a universe created by God at a fixed point in history. But an astronomical discovery shakes the world鈥檚 faith, and forces its devout protagonist to conjure up new and valid reasons to keep going.

These are two stand-outs of an impressive collection. Winterson鈥檚 novel blazes with fireworks; Chiang鈥檚 work is more restrained. Surprising tenderness and force of feeling emerge from his seemingly affectless prose. Exhalation provides startling ways to imagine the future 鈥� and, crucially, finds a place for humanity there.

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