I have trouble thinking of Michael Crichton's books as 'literature'...

Hazel wrote: "I have trouble thinking of Michael Crichton's books as 'literature'..."

Point taken. NEXT was not ready for publication IMO. On the other hand, Crichton may have known he was on short time when he wrote it. He's an Idea Man (PC: Idea Person), not a writer. Never was.

Thom wrote: "He's an Idea Man (PC: Idea Person), not a writer. Never was."

Agreed. Great ideas.

So is Frankenstein out?

I wouldn't think Frankenstein was out. Many regard it as the first work of science fiction (after Le Dernier Homme), but it is certainly literature, IMO.

Ok, I added it then. I thought maybe the "science" in it wasn't "hard" enough, as per your description above. Given that all we know is that Frankenstein took some body parts and stuck them together and used something....not sure what....(I think Shelley makes a reference to "galvinism" somewhere) to animate them. It didn't seem terribly realistic to me but I'll go with your ruling.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Ok, I added it then. I thought maybe the "science" in it wasn't "hard" enough, as per your description above. Given that all we know is that Frankenstein took some body parts and stuck them toget..."

Allessandro Volta succeeded with electricity in making the limbs of a dead frog move, and this around 1793, if memory serves. So Mary Shelley was indeed aware of the "hard" science of the time....perhaps, I think, maybe, IMO.