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Frankenstein (Norton Critical Editions)

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The 19th Century bequeathed us four immediately recognizable, vibrant & enduring fictional icons: Shelley's Frankenstein; Stoker's Dracula; Melville's Moby Dick (& Ahab); and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Each of them has, I fear, suffered a horrible fate: they are so familiar to us, in their many modern incarnations & imitations, that too few people return to the original texts. This may be particularly true of Frankenstein, whose portrayals have been so frivolous and distorted. In fact, in addition to being written in luxuriant gothic prose, the original novel is one of the most profound meditations on Man and his purpose and relation to God that has exists in our literature.

Victor Frankenstein is a young man of Geneva who is fascinated by the sciences and the secrets of life and death:

My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.

While at University in Ingolstadt, his life course is set when he hears a professor lecture on modern chemistry:

'The ancient teachers of this science,'said he, 'promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera. But these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heavens, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.'

Such were the professor's words--rather let me say such were the words of the fate--enounced to destroy me.

Victor goes on to discover, through the study of chemistry, the secret of bringing dead flesh to life. Inevitably he tests his discovery and of viewing his creation cries:

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.

And so, repelled by the mere appearance, the inevitable imperfection, of his work, Frankenstein rejects the creature utterly. However, unlike the mute stupid monster of the movies, Shelley's monster is articulate and sensitive and longs for companionship, but all of humankind reacts to him with horror. And so he demands that Frankenstein build him a mate. When Frankenstein refuses to provide him with a companion, the creature resolves to destroy those who Frankenstein loves.

Finally, Frankenstein determines that he must destroy the creature and pursues him into the frozen wastes of the North.

It all makes for a rousing adventure, but there is much more here. Frankenstein, through his work, has attempted to become a god, but his creation is a horrible disappointment & so, is banished from him. Meanwhile, his flawed creation, filled with ineffable longing and confusion, wanders in exile seeking the meaning of his existence. And what is the impulse that he settles upon, but another act of creation; a mate must be created for him. The Biblical parallels are obvious, but they work on us subtly as we read the novel. In the end, the uncontrollable urge to create, to imitate God, stands revealed as Man's driving force. And the inevitable disappointment of the creator in his creation, is revealed as the serpent in the garden.

If you've never read this book, read it now. If you've read it before, read it again.

GRADE: A+

This Norton Critical Edition makes an excellent value in literature. If you are a student of literature, this volume will help you gain a thorough knowledge of Mary Shelley's original text (lots of context and critical essays included), as well as editions that followed. It contains her original preface (supposedly much influenced by Percy) as well as her 1830 preface. If you do not know, Mary's monster is not the monster one finds in the movies, nor is Dr. Frankenstein. Further, if you have not read an edition other than the first, you don't know about the incest issue that is in the first edition, but not later editions. As you will find in reviews below, this is not a flawless novel, but it is a must read for any well-read person. What is rarely discussed is the influence of John Locke, whose Essay Concerning Human Understanding Mary Shelley read closely just prior to writing the novel. The influence of his work on hers is substantial. Read in the light of Romanticism's reaction to the Enlightenment and Locke et al gives one a completely different perspective for understanding the work. I think you'll find Mary's philosophy appropriately and interestingly feminine, without being feminist; another surprise, considering her lineage. Definitely a good read!

I've never seen the movie nor have I heard descriptions of the movie. I just assumed from the clips that I had seen that Dr. Frankenstein went to the cemetary, stole body parts, created a monster, the monster escapted and the story climaxed as a group of townsmen find the monster and lynch it. How happily wrong I was and what a sad mockery the story has become. Instead of finding a plodding flat-headed creature with an IQ of 3, the monster is actually something worse--he's still 9', but he's agile, possesses superhuman strength and agility and worse of all, he's much superior in intelligence to his creator. He is witty, is accomlished in persuasive speaking, quotes poetry and is determined to spend his horrible existance (he has nothing better to do--none can bare to look upon him as he is so horribly disfigured) stalking Dr. Frankenstien and making him suffer if he does not create another companion. This Monster is much scarier and worthy of a great story than Hollywood's plodding oaf. Shelly does an excellent job of pulling this reader in and struggling along with Victor Frankenstein as he debates the options in this lose-lose situation (slow destruction of his family vs creating a potentially more evil companion for his evil creation). I had no problem suspending my disbelief and greatly enjoyed the characters (I especially enjoyed slowly watching Victor Frankenstein grow sick and insane with worry) that Shelly creates. Aside from the Bible, if I could recommend any book, right now it would be Frankenstein.

For those readers who wish to read the novel as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley originally intended it, this is the text to use! Far from the later editions she edited and, quite frankly, "watered down," the 1818 edition of _Frankenstein_ displays the author at her best. (Of course, even if you prefer the later editions, it's nice to see what Shelley's original intentions were.) The footnotes are informative and helpful, the criticisms are well-selected, and the entire volume is a welcome addition to one's library.

This book is based on the original 1818 version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but is geared toward the reader who wants a more in-depth knowledge and understanding of this work of fiction and the writings of Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and Dr. John William Polidori, Byron's friend. The reader will find abundant annotations which help to explain the context in which it was written. A map is provided which helps to locate many of the settings described in the book. It also includes a section of reactions to various versions that have been published. Twelve contemporary authors have submitted essays which supply a variety of perspectives on Frankenstein. The book offers an authoritative text, contextual and source materials, and a wide range of interpretations in addition to a bibliography of other works on the topics.

Traditionally, Norton Critical Editions reprint the best historical and contemporary criticism for their respective novels. But, it seems as though Norton has succumbed to the critical tide of multiculturalism and "studies" departments. Nowhere in this edition are essays attempting to provide readers with greater appreciation for the novel. Missing, too, are essays explicating traditional aesthetic aspects of novel construction, such as characterization, structure, etc.

Instead, readers are presented standard multicultural fair: "Frankenstein and a Critique of Imperialism"; "Women in Frankenstein"; "Mary Shelley's Monstrous Eve"; "Female Gothic: The Monster's Mother"; and psychobabble - "My Monster/My Self." Funny, my reading missed that Frankenstein's monster had a mother. But, surely I must have read from a culturally-conditioned male, imperialist perspective. (By the way--and I am not making this up--one essay, "Coming Unstrung: Women, Men, Narrative, and Principles of Pleasure" begins with this insightful jewel: "I would like to begin with the proposition that the female orgasm is unnecessary.")

As one essay notes: "There seems to be no critical consensus on Frankenstein. Various critical readings seldom take the time to read, let alone challenge, each other. They simply seem to keep adding one more perspective to the pile. Indeed, to them, interpreting Frankenstein is not a zero-sum game, in which each new hypothesis requires falsifying an old one."

To take one example, consider Ellen Moers's "Female Gothic: The Monster's Mother." According to Moers, the critical scene occurs when Frankenstein first perceives his filthy creature, "the hideous corpse which he had looked upon as the cradle of life." The language describes a stillbirth, and, to Moers, this is its strength: Shelley draws upon her own experiences of the death of her own infants. The problem is that this interpretation can not be tested from evidence in the novel. "If one objected that Victor Frankenstein is not a woman, that he does not give birth, that the creature is alive not dead and is not an infant but full grown, and that the horror arises precisely from the difference between this delivery and all others, Moers might reply that such literalmindedness misses the point."

Mary Shelley's early 1818 text of Frankenstein is free of the revisions she made when she became an older woman, wearier of the world. This novel is not the horror story Hollywood has told us in Boris Karloff's portrayal of the Frankenstein monster, Kenneth Brannaugh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (a disturbing departure from the text) and the satire Young Frankenstein. The horrors Shelley comments on in the book include the dangers of man playing God and then not taking responsibility for his creation by abandoning it.

If you think you know Frankenstein because you have seen the classic 1930's Hollywood movie, then you really don't know Frankenstein. The short novel upon which the movie is loosely based (so loosely as to be almost a different story)is a morality tale on the creation of life and the obligations of the creator and the created. Mary Shelley was only twenty when she wrote the novel, begun when a house party attended by the poet Byron and Shelley's husband, the poet Percy Shelley decided to swap "ghost" stories one evening. Only Mary Shelley completed her story and this is the 1818 text presented in this book.
One main objection I have about this book (and the only reason that kept it from getting 5 stars) is basically the plot itself. If you think that a tight plausible plot is needed, then this is not the book for you. There are too many holes and too many times I found myself asking, Why would the character do this? But if you read for language and philosophical thought, then Frankenstein is a perfect short read. The monster is very erudite and able to express his emotions perfectly. Why was he created and how can he endure if all he receives is the scorn and hatred of those around him? What is the obligation of the creator-to please his creation or keep him from doing harm to others? This is the true core of the story and the contrasting feelings between Victor Frankenstein, the creator and the monster fill the pages.
While not a difficult read, it is one that is totally unexpected if you have no prior knowledge of the novel's difference with the movie. While the movie is rightfully a classic, the book delves more into the spiritual and emotional realms of creation and its affect on all. I would highly recommend this book for those who are intrigued by the beauty of language and thought. J

I bought this book because it was a requirement for an advanced English class. I really don't have time to read a lot of books for pleasure, because I am a college student. I was completely involved with this book and couldn't put it down. I read it in 2 days. It is the original 1818 print edition by Mary Shelly. I have never seen the Frankenstein movies, but this book is the best and worth purchasing.

The chronological table in the back of the book helped me situate Mary Shelley within the time of the writing of Frankenstein. Percy B. Shelley's critique of the book, published after he died, was interesting. I liked the Criticisms in the back of the book. Most of all, I loved the Being Frankenstein created. This is the saddest, most thought provoking, book I've read in recent times (even though it's old).