All of us humans are predictable – including this very statement and this entire post. That is, it’s inherently predictable to say humans are predictable. You might have even seen a movie where a character begins to say “You can’t figure me out, I’m really…” and another character completes the phrase: “unpredictable?”
Though I don’t have any data to support my claim, it feels most people would prefer not to be thought of as predictable. Perhaps it’s a concept making us uncomfortable, as it alludes to free will – or lack thereof.
Are humans predictable? I’d say we are. But – and here’s the twist in the proverbial plot – that’s likely a good thing.
The title is a mouthful, I know. The Devil and Femininity might be the only two concepts that come across as clear. Ironically enough, that’s a problem. In this post, neither the Devil nor Femininity are what you think they are.
Though all this might sound overwhelming, the post is easy to follow. The reason? It’s based on an ongoing discussion I’m having with Igor da Silva Livramento, friend and fellow writer, academic, and creative-writing advisor. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. You can find him on LinkedIn, and also take a look at his blog and his page on Bandcamp.
And so, in this discussion of ours, we’ve been talking about how the Devil and Femininity, when examined outside the usual conceptual chains imposed by sociocultural norms, allow us to see a different reality. A reality where the Femininity of the Devil holds the key to a better, more inclusive understanding of the human experience.
The traditional Promethean Devil is a symbol of reason and revolt against authority. But the Devil through Femininity (and here we need to reestablish both concepts) can be a powerful symbol of inclusion and humanity(more…)
Note: the following article on Mary Shelley’s “The Mortal Immortal” is a modified excerpt (pp. 74-76) from my doctoral dissertation, “Time is Everything with Him”: The Concept of the Eternal Now in Nineteenth-Century Gothic, which is available for free from the repository of the Tampere University Press. For a list of my other academic publications, presentations, etc. feel free to visit the main Home for Fiction website and the relevant page there.
In Mary Shelley’s “The Mortal Immortal”, the sociocultural as much as existential aspects of immortality play a central part, as the title emphasizes.
In the story, one of the students of Cornelius Agrippa gets his inexperienced hands on his master’s elixir of eternal life. It is interesting to note that Agrippa is one of the masters whom Victor Frankenstein studies during his attempt to create his monster. Winzy, the young apprentice, unwisely unleashes a curse of similar proportionsWinze means curse (OED, “winze, n.2”), a very relevant name for the main character of this story. upon himself.
He witnesses his young wife becoming old while he remains the same, with the abnormal situation having terrible repercussions, as he assumes the role of the caregiver, while she becomes jealous and grumpy.
Much like in Frankenstein, the kind of immortality offered in “The Mortal Immortal” is a fake one. The source of anguish for Winzy (and of course the reader) arises from the unsolvable conflict between past and future, between life and death.
In Shelley’s “The Mortal Immortal”, an unwise apprentice drinks the elixir of eternal life, with disastrous consequences(more…)
