ABSTRACT
Within the classical episteme, metamorphosis is an accepted phenomenon which is not intrinsically improbable. Beings and objects shift into one another without friction or solution. The horizon of metamorphosis is a teleological one; its function, to provide a resolution, an 'untying'. During the medieval period the literary metamorphosis is often a sophisticated device designed to convey, through symbols, metaphors and allegories, certain religious truths not otherwise easily apprehendable: the transfiguration of Pearl is the example that immediately springs to the medievalist's mind. In the early stage of science fiction, the notion of mutation was often based on the influential theories of the Dutch naturalist Hugo de Vries, and was closely connected with that of 'cosmic radiations' which produced 'instant' transformations, often originating 'superior' beings, 'supermen'. From the 1950s onwards, technology has come to play an increasingly dominant role in science fiction.
