Introduction
Alasdair Gray's novel "Poor Things" is a strange and captivating tale that blends elements of gothic horror, Victorian literature, and postmodern storytelling. Set in late 19th-century Glasgow, the story revolves around Bella Baxter, a woman who is supposedly the result of a Frankenstein-like experiment. However, as we delve deeper into the narrative, we discover that nothing is quite as it seems, and the truth is as elusive as it is fascinating.
Gray's novel challenges our perceptions of reality, history, and the construction of identity. It's a book that defies easy categorization, mixing humor with horror, social commentary with surrealism, and historical fiction with fantasy. At its core, "Poor Things" is an exploration of how men attempt to shape and control women, both literally and figuratively, and how women resist and defy these attempts.
Let's dive into this bizarre and thought-provoking story, unraveling its mysteries and exploring its themes one idea at a time.
The Framing Device: A Historical Discovery
Gray begins his novel with an intriguing framing device that immediately calls into question the nature of truth and fiction. The story opens in the late 20th century, introducing us to Michael Donnelly, a local historian in Glasgow. Donnelly is passionate about preserving the city's Victorian heritage, which is rapidly disappearing under the onslaught of modern development.
One day, while rescuing artifacts from soon-to-be-demolished buildings, Donnelly stumbles upon a curious set of documents. Among them is a small book titled "Episodes from the Early Life of a Scottish Public Health Officer," self-published in 1909 by a man named Archibald McCandless. Accompanying this book is a letter from Victoria McCandless, Archibald's wife, disputing the account given in her late husband's book.
This discovery sets the stage for the main narrative of "Poor Things." Gray presents these documents as historical artifacts, blurring the line between fact and fiction. He even inserts himself into the story as a character, claiming to have been given these documents by Donnelly.
The framing device serves multiple purposes:
It creates an air of authenticity around the story, making readers question whether what they're about to read is based on real historical events.
It introduces the theme of competing narratives, as we have two conflicting accounts of the same events.
It sets up the postmodern aspect of the novel, where the nature of truth and reality is constantly in question.
This clever setup immediately engages the reader, making us active participants in unraveling the mystery of Bella Baxter's true story.
The Strange Tale of Bella Baxter
The main narrative of "Poor Things" is presented as the memoir of Archibald McCandless, a medical student in late 19th-century Glasgow. McCandless recounts his encounters with the brilliant but eccentric Dr. Godwin Baxter and the mysterious woman known as Bella Baxter.
Meeting Godwin Baxter
McCandless, a poor farmer's son struggling to fit in at medical school, finds an unlikely friend in Godwin Baxter. Baxter is described as a grotesque figure - seven feet tall with the body proportions of a child and an unbearably high-pitched voice. Despite his repulsive appearance, Baxter is a genius in the field of medicine.
During their walks together, Baxter shares his unconventional ideas about life and death. He claims to have perfected techniques for suspending life, maintaining cellular vitality while halting respiration, circulation, and digestion. McCandless initially dismisses these ideas as the ravings of a madman.
The Creation of Bella Baxter
The story takes a turn into the realm of gothic horror when Baxter introduces McCandless to Bella. She's described as stunningly beautiful but with the mind of a child. Baxter explains that Bella is the result of his experiments in creating life.
According to Baxter, he found the body of a pregnant woman who had drowned herself. Using his life-suspending techniques, he kept her body alive at a cellular level. When no one claimed the body, Baxter took a radical step: he transplanted the brain of the unborn infant into the woman's body and brought them both back to life.
This shocking revelation forms the central mystery of the novel. Is Bella truly a Frankenstein-like creation, or is there another explanation for her existence and behavior?
Bella's Development and Education
As the story progresses, we witness Bella's rapid mental development. She grows from having the mind of an infant to that of a curious and intelligent adult in a matter of months. This accelerated growth is reflected in her language, which evolves from childish scrawls to eloquent prose over the course of the novel.
Bella's education takes an unexpected turn when she elopes with Duncan Wedderburn, a smooth-talking lawyer. Their journey across Europe becomes a bildungsroman of sorts for Bella, as she encounters different worldviews and experiences that shape her understanding of life.
During her travels, Bella meets two men who attempt to educate her about the world: Mr. Astley, a cynical businessman, and Dr. Hooker, an American missionary. Their contrasting philosophies - Astley's "bitter wisdom" about the struggle for power and Hooker's belief in white racial superiority - provide Bella with a crash course in the harsh realities of the world.
However, Bella's innate compassion and intelligence allow her to see through their ideologies. She recognizes the flaws in their thinking and develops her own moral compass. By the end of her journey, Bella has transformed into a mature, educated woman with a desire to help others and make a difference in the world.
The Competing Narrative: Victoria's Account
Just as we've settled into McCandless's fantastic tale, Gray introduces a competing narrative. Victoria McCandless, the woman formerly known as Bella Baxter, provides her own account of events in a letter accompanying her late husband's memoir.
Victoria's story is strikingly different from McCandless's gothic tale. She presents a much more plausible and historically grounded narrative of a woman's struggle for education and independence in Victorian society.
Victoria's True Origins
According to Victoria, she was born in Manchester to an industrialist father. Like many women of her time, she was sent to boarding school to learn the skills deemed appropriate for a Victorian lady - household management, social graces, and how to please men.
She was then married off to a much older general, a loveless union that left her deeply unhappy. When she sought help for her depression, a doctor diagnosed her with a "sex obsession" and recommended surgical removal of her clitoris as a cure.
Meeting Godwin Baxter
Seeking a second opinion, Victoria met Dr. Godwin Baxter in Glasgow. Unlike the monstrous figure described by McCandless, Victoria portrays Baxter as a compassionate and brilliant doctor who recognized her intelligence and supported her desire for education.
Baxter helped Victoria escape her unhappy marriage, providing her with shelter and passing her off as his niece. Under his guidance, Victoria began studying medicine, eventually becoming one of the first women to enroll in Glasgow University's medical program.
The Truth About Her Marriage
In Victoria's account, her marriage to McCandless was not the result of a strange experiment, but a practical arrangement suggested by Baxter. She describes McCandless as a kind but intellectually mediocre man who could provide her with the support she needed to pursue her medical career.
Victoria goes on to become a successful doctor and advocate for women's rights, with McCandless supporting her endeavors as a public health officer.
Themes and Analysis
"Poor Things" is a rich, multi-layered novel that explores several key themes:
The Construction of Women by Men
One of the central themes of the novel is how men attempt to shape and control women. This is literalized in McCandless's account, where Bella is physically constructed by Baxter. However, it's also present in Victoria's more realistic narrative, where she describes how Victorian society tried to mold her into an ideal of womanhood.
The novel critiques these attempts at control, showing how Bella/Victoria consistently defies the expectations placed upon her. She refuses to be the passive, childlike creature that Baxter and McCandless desire, instead pursuing her own path of education and independence.
The Nature of Truth and Reality
Gray's use of competing narratives forces readers to question the nature of truth and reality. Which account should we believe - McCandless's fantastic tale or Victoria's more plausible story? By leaving this question unresolved, Gray highlights the subjective nature of truth and the power of narrative in shaping our understanding of reality.
The Role of Education in Emancipation
Both versions of the story emphasize the importance of education in Bella/Victoria's development. Whether through her European travels or her formal medical training, it's clear that knowledge is the key to her independence and self-realization.
This theme reflects the real-life struggles of women in the Victorian era who fought for access to education and professional opportunities.
Critique of Victorian Society and Imperialism
Through Bella's encounters with characters like Mr. Astley and Dr. Hooker, Gray offers a scathing critique of Victorian attitudes towards class, race, and imperialism. The novel exposes the hypocrisy and cruelty underlying the supposed "civilizing mission" of the British Empire.
The Gothic and the Grotesque
Gray's use of gothic elements - the mad scientist, the created woman, the grotesque bodies - serves to both pay homage to and subvert Victorian literary traditions. By mixing these elements with more realistic narratives, he creates a unique postmodern gothic style.
Literary Techniques and Style
Gray employs a variety of literary techniques that contribute to the novel's unique flavor:
Intertextuality
"Poor Things" is rich with references to other literary works, particularly those from the Victorian era. The most obvious is Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," but there are also echoes of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and various works by Charles Dickens.
Pastiche
The novel mimics various Victorian literary styles, from gothic horror to social realism to travel writing. This pastiche adds to the book's authenticity as a supposed historical document while also allowing Gray to playfully subvert these genres.
Unreliable Narrators
Both McCandless and Victoria can be seen as unreliable narrators, each presenting a version of events that may be distorted by their own biases and motivations. This technique keeps readers on their toes, constantly questioning what they're being told.
Visual Elements
Gray, who was also a visual artist, incorporates illustrations and unusual typography into the novel. These visual elements add another layer to the story and contribute to its postmodern feel.
The Significance of Glasgow
Gray's choice of Glasgow as the primary setting for "Poor Things" is significant. As a major industrial center and shipbuilding hub, Glasgow embodied the spirit of the Victorian age like few other cities. It was a place of stark contrasts - great wealth and innovation existing alongside poverty and social problems.
By setting his story in this historically rich environment, Gray is able to explore the broader themes of industrialization, social change, and the transition from the Victorian era to the modern world. The city becomes more than just a backdrop; it's almost a character in its own right, its transformation mirroring the changes in the characters' lives.
The Novel's Reception and Legacy
When "Poor Things" was published in 1992, it was met with critical acclaim. Many reviewers praised Gray's imaginative storytelling, his skillful blending of genres, and his exploration of complex themes.
The novel won the Whitbread Novel Award (now known as the Costa Book Awards) and the Guardian Fiction Prize, cementing Gray's reputation as one of Scotland's most important contemporary writers.
"Poor Things" has since become a cult classic, appreciated for its unique blend of historical fiction, gothic horror, and postmodern playfulness. Its themes of gender, power, and the nature of truth continue to resonate with readers today.
The book has also been influential in the world of literature, inspiring other writers to experiment with form and genre. Its success helped to put Scottish literature on the global map, paving the way for other Scottish authors to gain international recognition.
Adaptation and Continued Relevance
In 2023, "Poor Things" was adapted into a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone as Bella Baxter. The film's release has brought renewed attention to Gray's novel, introducing it to a new generation of readers.
The themes explored in "Poor Things" remain highly relevant in the 21st century. Issues of gender equality, the ethics of scientific advancement, and the nature of truth in an era of "fake news" all find echoes in Gray's work. The novel's questioning of established narratives and its exploration of how identities are constructed (or imposed) continue to resonate in our current cultural conversations.
Final Thoughts
"Poor Things" is a novel that defies easy categorization. It's at once a gothic horror story, a feminist critique of Victorian society, a playful postmodern experiment, and a deeply human tale of self-discovery and emancipation.
Through the competing narratives of Archibald McCandless and Victoria McCandless, Gray invites us to question our assumptions about truth, reality, and the stories we tell about ourselves and others. The novel challenges us to look beyond surface appearances and easy explanations, to dig deeper into the complexities of human nature and society.
At its heart, "Poor Things" is a story about the power of education and self-determination. Whether we choose to believe the fantastic tale of Bella Baxter's creation or the more grounded account of Victoria's struggle for independence, we're left with a portrait of a woman who refuses to be defined or constrained by others. In both versions of the story, she emerges as a fully realized individual, capable of making her own choices and shaping her own destiny.
Gray's novel also serves as a reminder of the power of literature to challenge, provoke, and transform. By blending genres and playing with literary conventions, he creates a work that is greater than the sum of its parts. "Poor Things" is not just a story to be passively consumed; it's an active experience that requires the reader's engagement and interpretation.
The ambiguity at the heart of the novel - which version of events is "true"? - is not a flaw but a feature. It reflects the messy, contradictory nature of reality itself. In leaving this question unresolved, Gray invites us to embrace uncertainty and to recognize that truth is often more complex than we'd like to believe.
As we close the book on "Poor Things," we're left with a sense of having been on a remarkable journey. We've traveled from the grimy streets of Victorian Glasgow to the grand cities of Europe, from the realm of gothic horror to the world of social realism. We've encountered characters both grotesque and beautiful, ideas both uplifting and disturbing.
But most importantly, we've been challenged to think - about gender roles and power dynamics, about the nature of identity and the construction of self, about the relationship between past and present, fact and fiction. This, perhaps, is the greatest achievement of Gray's novel. It's not just a story to be read, but a puzzle to be solved, a mirror in which we can examine our own assumptions and beliefs.
In the end, "Poor Things" reminds us of the transformative power of storytelling. Whether it's Bella/Victoria crafting her own narrative of empowerment, or Gray himself weaving this complex tapestry of competing truths, the novel demonstrates how stories shape our understanding of the world and ourselves. It invites us to be both critical readers and authors of our own lives, to question the narratives we're given and to have the courage to write new ones.
As we return to our own world, we carry with us the echoes of Bella Baxter's journey. We're reminded to look beyond appearances, to question authority, to seek knowledge, and above all, to strive for self-determination. In this way, "Poor Things" is more than just a clever postmodern experiment or a critique of Victorian society - it's a call to intellectual and personal freedom that resonates across time and place.
Alasdair Gray's "Poor Things" is a novel that stays with you long after you've turned the last page. It's a book that rewards rereading, revealing new layers of meaning and inviting fresh interpretations with each encounter. In its blend of the fantastic and the mundane, the historical and the timeless, it captures something essential about the human experience - our constant struggle to understand ourselves and our place in the world.
Whether you see it as a gothic horror story, a feminist manifesto, a postmodern puzzle, or simply a cracking good read, "Poor Things" is a testament to the enduring power of imagination and the limitless possibilities of literature. It's a book that, like its protagonist, refuses to be easily defined or contained. And in doing so, it encourages us all to break free from the constraints of convention and expectation, to embrace our own complexity, and to write our own stories.