Alraune (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Hanns Heinz Ewers
- First Published: 1911
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—superbeing
- Time of Work: 1885-1910
- Setting: Germany
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy, Magical and occult fantasy
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, 1910’s, Good and evil, Bioengineering or biotechnology, Germany or German people, Morality or morals, Superman or superbeings, Mad scientists
- Locales: Germany
The Plot
Alraune is an occult fantasy, a modern reworking of the mandrake myth woven together with elements of Frankenstein (1818) and played against the background of the decadence and moral collapse that preceded World War I.
Inspired by the legend that mandrakes (alraunes in German) are engendered by the semen of hanged criminals, Frank Braun, a dissolute young lawyer, proposes an experiment to Professor Jacob ten Brinken: The creation of a woman through artificial insemination. Nymphomaniacal prostitute Alma Raune is impregnated with the final...
[The entire page is 976 words long]
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