AustLit

Possible the earliest science fiction work written by an Australian resident, The Burlesque of Frankenstein; Or, The Man-Gorilla, was written for the stage in Adelaide in 1863 but never produced. George Isaacs subsequently included it in Rhyme and Prose. As Graham Stone notes, the story of Frankenstein has been an enduring science fiction subject since it first appeared in 1818, and indeed at least eleven theatrical adaptations were been produced in Adelaide alone between 1823 and 1849 (five melodramas and six burlesques).

In describing the humour of the piece ' is largely verbal' (with anything for a rhyme), Stone writes further:

Isaacs' burlesque is a wild travesty of its basic plot with no trace of its spirit, but it is a part of the tradition, its creation in a remote backwater showing how wide the novel's appeal was. It also reflects the controversy of the time over the new concept of evolution.

The burlesque is preceded by a twp page preface entitled "A Burlesque and its History," in which Issacs outlines the reasons for the work having been denied a production.