Cyborg in Literature: Analysing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman

Abstract

Technology has become part and parcel of our life and every corner of our being has been infiltrated by it. Though it appears to be a threat to the natural world, imagining a life without it would be impossible, since it exerts immense control on our minds and behaviour pattern. Cyborg, the latest of development, altering and affecting the functioning of our brain is the human and machine interface called a cybernetic organism. Though the term ‘cyborg’ was first used in the 1960s, a creature with similar characteristics has references in early literary works too. Cultural studies provide an inclusive attitude towards understanding the development of this new culture having a human-machine interface. Cultural studies, an interdisciplinary field of study, started with the formation of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in the 1960s at the University of Birmingham and the journal Screen and Representations, with the efforts of the scholars from varied disciplines. The founding members were Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart and Stuart Hall. Representation of cyborg characters in literature and cinema are frequently seen, which mirror the trend of society in the present times. This article seeks to analyse the cyborg characters in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein (1818) and E. T. A. Hoffmann’s novella The Sandman (1816). It also intends to show the purpose and perception of cyborg characters in literature.