First Born

by Maureen Duffy

1981. A different Britain. When Norman Forrester of the Defence Ministry's Experimental Institute effects a successful fertilisation of a female gorilla with human sperm, an infant is born. Gordon, known as Gor, is his son in two senses. But Gor's parentage must remain a secret. He has no legal existence as an individual because his existence has never been divulged to the government data bank. In more than one way, Gor is a 'non-person'.

Operated on so that he is capable of speech, Gor grows through boyhood and adolescence into a strong, intelligent youth. When he discovers his true identity, he is devastated by his outcast destiny. But is there the possibility of a home amongst some of the exiles from a computer-dominated class-oriented society? And if Gor can find them, will they accept him?

Maureen Duffy's novel offers both an enthralling, fast-moving narrative and a vivid parable of the individual's struggle to win acceptance from his fellows and to overcome the forces that seek to destroy human individuality in any age.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Novels

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 1982

About the author

Maureen Patricia Duffy was a British novelist, poet, playwright, nonfiction author and activist.

Duffy's work often used Freudian ideas and Greek mythology as frameworks. Her writing was distinctive for its use of contrasting voices, or streams of consciousness, often including the perspectives of outsiders. Her novels have been linked to a European tradition of literature which explores reality through the use of language and questioning, rather than through traditional linear narrative. James Joyce in particular, and Modernism in general, are significant influences on her fiction, as is Joyce Cary.

Duffy, with author and activist Brigid Brophy, Michael Levey and two others founded the Writers' Action Group in 1972, which gained more than 700 author members. Their campaign for Public Lending Right (annual payments to authors based on public-library loans of their books) succeeded legally in 1979 after support for it at the 1978 TUC conference. She joined a delegation to meet Prime Minister James Callaghan in 1977. She remained an authority on copyright, intellectual property law and secondary author rights.

Abridged from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite jumping around from one scene to the next, which can be a little disconcerting, Maureen Duffy succeeds in capturing the imagination as she tells the tale of a half human, half gorilla boy thrust into the world by his unfeeling creator. It is thought-provoking stuff and the subject matter alone made it difficult to put down.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gordon Bardfield must make his own way in the world. His mother, Mary, isn't capable of caring for him and Norman Forester is a cold, calculating man, who is responsible for Gor's birth. Gor is a human/primate hybrid whose very existence will be denied and will prove very embarrassing for the doctor who made him.

Duffy's novel is as interesting for the hints of the world Gor grows up in as for the main thrust of the story. Chimeric creatures have been part of stories for millennia, but this quasi fascistic Britain is tantalisingly described, leaving readers terrified of the possible future, but eager to see more.

[Moniek · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book has a 'brave new world' setting, while the story within is full of intrige. It is a fast paced story carefully wound along the different characters. Taking you along the life of this boy, who isn't an ordinary boy, in a world in which even normal humans are divided in different classes, mostly not really based on anything. It reminds us on what binds us, rather than divides us.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this SO much! As soon as I saw the author bio for Maureen Duffy I knew I had to buy this book...absolutely brilliant. If you're an Orwell fan or a sci-fi lover, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid read exploring some fascinating ideas. In some ways I wish I hadn't read the introduction first as this laid out some of the aspects the book explores, with the result that when I came across then they felt a little forced or artificial. Enjoyable nevertheless and left me thinking.

[Anthony Buck · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd book. I actually think there's a very good story buried in here that comes through from time to time, but it's obscured behind a series of diversions, some quite strange, others quite boring.

[Puppet · Rating 4 out of 5]

the tale of Gor the mutant is as much a story about him as it is about those around him and society at large.

[Melanie Hepburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great premise. Poor thought out plot outlines.

[Chris Estell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really interesting concept, but far too much focus on ancillary characters and not Gor. By the time you really get to explore how he feels......it's nearly the end of the book.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched the tv version of this back in the mid eighties as a child and it stayed with me, I was expecting so much more from the book but was left disappointed, far too much scientific jargon and not enough emotion