Frankenstein: or `The Modern Prometheus': The 1818 TextBy the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window-shutters, I beheld the wretch-the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened...' Frankenstein is the most celebrated horror story ever written. It tells the dreadful tale of Victor Frankenstein, a visionary young student of natural philosophy, who discovers the secret of life. In the grip of his obsession he constructs a being from dead body parts, and animates this creature. The results, for Victor and for his family, are catastrophic. Written when Mary Shelley was just eighteen, Frankenstein was inspired by the ghost stories and vogue for Gothic literature that fascinated the Romantic writers of her time. She transformed these supernatural elements an epic parable that warned against the threats to humanity posed by accelerating technological progress. Published for the 200th anniversary, this edition, based on the original 1818 text, explains in detail the turbulent intellectual context in which Shelley was writing, and also investigates how her novel has since become a byword for controversial practices in science and medicine, from manipulating ecosystems to vivisection and genetic modification. As an iconic study of power, creativity, and, ultimately, what it is to be human, Frankenstein continues to shape our thinking in profound ways to this day. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 41
Page xiii
... months later on 30 August; within eleven. 13 See Horace Walpole's Correspondence, ed. W. S. Lewis (London: Oxford University Press, 1937–83), vol. xxxi (1961), p. 397 (letter to Hannah More, 26 Jan. 1795). 14 Mary Wollstonecraft, An ...
... months later on 30 August; within eleven. 13 See Horace Walpole's Correspondence, ed. W. S. Lewis (London: Oxford University Press, 1937–83), vol. xxxi (1961), p. 397 (letter to Hannah More, 26 Jan. 1795). 14 Mary Wollstonecraft, An ...
Page xiv
... months later on 30 August; within eleven days her mother was dead of puerperal fever. Four years later Godwin married Mary Jane Vial, a translator and children's writer, but the new Mrs Godwin had little time for her predecessor's ...
... months later on 30 August; within eleven days her mother was dead of puerperal fever. Four years later Godwin married Mary Jane Vial, a translator and children's writer, but the new Mrs Godwin had little time for her predecessor's ...
Page xvi
... months of losing her child Shelley was pregnant again. If rebellion, the death of their baby, and a rigorous regime of reading combined to create the mood under which Frankenstein would be composed, inspiration did not strike until the ...
... months of losing her child Shelley was pregnant again. If rebellion, the death of their baby, and a rigorous regime of reading combined to create the mood under which Frankenstein would be composed, inspiration did not strike until the ...
Page xviii
... months Shelley wrote, discussed her story with Percy, and sometimes he read aloud to her—Paradise Lost, Gulliver's Travels, Pamela, chapters of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Castle Rackrent, and the fateful 'Christabel ...
... months Shelley wrote, discussed her story with Percy, and sometimes he read aloud to her—Paradise Lost, Gulliver's Travels, Pamela, chapters of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Castle Rackrent, and the fateful 'Christabel ...
Page xix
... months later came the news that Percy's estranged wife Harriet had been found dead in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, heavily pregnant (though probably not with Percy's child).33 It was only eighteen months since Shelley's baby had died ...
... months later came the news that Percy's estranged wife Harriet had been found dead in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, heavily pregnant (though probably not with Percy's child).33 It was only eighteen months since Shelley's baby had died ...
Contents
ix | |
Note on the Text | li |
Select Bibliography | lvi |
A Chronology of Mary Shelley | lxiii |
In three volumes | 1 |
Dedication | 3 |
Preface | 5 |
FRANKENSTEIN OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS | 7 |
APPENDIX A AUTHORS INTRODUCTION TO THE STANDARD NOVELS EDITION 1831 | 173 |
SUBSTANTIVE CHANGES | 178 |
APPENDIX C ON FRANKENSTEIN BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY | 199 |
EXPLANATORY NOTES | 201 |
Other editions - View all
Frankenstein: or `The Modern Prometheus': The 1818 Text Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Limited preview - 2018 |
Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Text Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Limited preview - 2018 |
Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus' - The 1818 Text Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley No preview available - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
affection animal appeared arrived beautiful became become believe body called cause child Clerval companion concerning continued cottage cousin creature dark dead dear death delight described desire despair destroyed discovered edition Elizabeth endeavoured endured entered existence expressed eyes father fear feelings Felix felt followed Frankenstein Geneva Godwin hands happy heard heart History hope horror human idea imagination Italy Justine kind lake language leave letter light live London looked Lost manner Mary means mind miserable monster months mountains murderer nature nearly never night novel opened passed Percy Shelley philosophy pleasure poor possessed present Press Prometheus published reflected remained rest scene seemed Shelley Shelley’s sometimes soon spirit story suffered tale tears thing thought turned University Victor visited voice wish wonder wretch writing