Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus: The Standard 1831 Text

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Millipede Press, 2007 - Fiction - 496 pages
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the world's most notorious and widely read Gothic novel. It has also been heralded as both the first modern horror novel and the first science fiction novel. More important than either is the novel's mythical status in society. The rich subtext of Frankenstein and the vast number of readings it can inspire have contributed to the novel's continued success after nearly two hundred years. This edition of Frankenstein uses Mary Shelley's definitive 1831 text and incorporates several critical essays on Frankenstein, discussing its rich symbolism and place in world literature. There is also a valuable bibliography, Mary Shelley's original introduction to the 1831 edition, Percy Shelley's original preface, and more. This is the definitive edition of Frankenstein, perfect for the trade and indispensable for scholarly use. This is first in the affordably priced Millipede Press Gothic Novels series. Mary Shelley was born in London in 1797. Her mother was the polemicist Mary Wollstonecraft, her father the radical philosopher and novelist William Godwin. At age nineteen, she wrote Frankenstein (published in 1818), which was edited and guided by her husband, Percy Shelley. She is also well known for her apocalyptic novel, The Last Man (1826). She died in 1851. Patrick McGrath was born in London. He is the author of Blood and Water and Other Tales, The Grotesque, Spider, Asylum, and other novels. He lives in New York City and London.

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About the author (2007)

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in England on August 30, 1797. Her parents were two celebrated liberal thinkers, William Godwin, a social philosopher, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a women's rights advocate. Eleven days after Mary's birth, her mother died of puerperal fever. Four motherless years later, Godwin married Mary Jane Clairmont, bringing her and her two children into the same household with Mary and her half-sister, Fanny. Mary's idolization of her father, his detached and rational treatment of their bond, and her step-mother's preference for her own children created a tense and awkward home. Mary's education and free-thinking were encouraged, so it should not surprise us today that at the age of sixteen she ran off with the brilliant, nineteen-year old and unhappily married Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley became her ideal, but their life together was a difficult one. Traumas plagued them: Shelley's wife and Mary's half-sister both committed suicide; Mary and Shelley wed shortly after he was widowed but social disapproval forced them from England; three of their children died in infancy or childhood; and while Shelley was an aristocrat and a genius, he was also moody and had little money. Mary conceived of her magnum opus, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, when she was only nineteen when Lord Byron suggested they tell ghost stories at a house party. The resulting book took over two years to write and can be seen as the brilliant creation of a powerful but tormented mind. The story of Frankenstein has endured nearly two centuries and countless variations because of its timeless exploration of the tension between our quest for knowledge and our thirst for good. Shelley drowned when Mary was only 24, leaving her with an infant and debts. She died from a brain tumor on February 1, 1851 at the age of 54. Patrick McGrath was born in London in 1950 and grew up near Broadmoor Hospital where his father was the medical superintendent for many years. He attended Stonyhurst College and received his BA in English from the University of London. Among other jobs, he worked as an orderly in a mental hospital and as a teacher before becoming a writer. He is seen as a leader of the neo-Gothic writers; his books include Spider, The Grotesque, Port Mungo, Trauma and Asylum. His novel Martha Peake won the Premio Flaiano Prize in Italy. McGrath resides in New York City and London.

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