Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein [Audiobook, Abridged] [Audio Cassette]

Theodore Roszak (Author), Amanda Pays (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

The story of Victor Frankenstein, his quest for forbidden knowledge, and his creation of the Creature is told through the voice of Elizabeth, Victor's doomed fiance+a7e, in a candid, passionate retelling of Shelley's classic.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The premise of this emotionally wrenching novel is that Elizabeth (an orphan) and Victor Frankenstein were raised from early childhood by Victor's mother to fulfill her dream of an alchemic union that would promote the cause of "feminine" magic in a world where "masculine" science rears its arrogant head. But her plans go catastrophically awry. This is a story of extraordinary depth--respectful to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, packed with scenes of mystic rituals and sexual explorations, and above all, filled with the voice of a strong, complex woman in devastating circumstances. (And you'll love the new perspective on the monster.) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

How ironic that a woman who wrote as a man should, after nearly 200 years, be given such ardent voice by a man writing as a woman. Roszak, author of the seminal nonfiction work The Making of a Counterculture and several previous novels including Flicker, risks much and achieves all in this richly imagined, frankly erotic homage to Mary Shelley, who modeled Victor Frankenstein's murdered?and scarcely heard from?bride on herself. Elizabeth has her full say here, and what a supremely gothic?and feminist?tale she tells: of her secret birth and her upbringing by a gypsy midwife; of her adoption by freethinking Lady Caroline Frankenstein; of her initiation into a wicca group and her preparation for a "chymical marriage" to her foster brother Victor; and of her solo wanderings in the Swiss Alps and her formation of a telepathic relationship with a hideous stranger named Adam, leading to madness and death. Roszak cleverly has Sir Richard Walton, the narrator of Frankenstein, present this work. His antiphonal "editor's notes," with their condescending view of women and admiration for "manly" science, provide a solid historical framework and strategic links to Shelley's novel. Passionate and lyrical, rife with period details and underpinned by a thought-provoking subtext on gender relations and the nature of modern science, this spellbinder will send readers rushing to gobble up its precursor. Major ad/promo; Doubleday Book Club alternate; audio rights to Simon & Schuster.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audioworks; Abridged edition (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671529137
• ISBN-13: 978-0671529130
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,919,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Theodore Roszak (1933-2011) was the author of fifteen books, including the 1969 classic "The Making of a Counter Culture." He was professor emeritus of history at California State University, and lived in Berkeley, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be warned: this book is an argument in disguise, April 3, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein (Mass Market Paperback)

If you read "The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein" expecting to find a horror story similar to Mary Shelley's classic, then you will be extremely disappointed. But Theodore Roszak's novel is an excuse to make an argument, albeit in narrative form, concerning what Dr. Frankenstein wrought up in his laboratory. After all, Roszak is not only a novelist ("Flicker") but also a historian ("The Making of a Counter Culture"). The novel "Frankenstein" represents an important paradigm shift in human history, where science became God, replacing religion. In that regard you can say that the myth of Frankenstein replaced that of Faustus. Essentially "Frankenstein" argues that "there are some things man was not meant to tamper with," a tale that you can trace back to the Tower of Babel or see behind the story of the Titanic for that matter. Roszak makes a similar and no less compelling case for a different kind of shift. For Roszak the science of Dr. Frankenstein represents the "masculine," which replaces the older "feminine" wisdom represented by Elizabeth.

As an infant, Elizabeth Lavenza is given to a wandering gypsy. She is illegitimate, without a mother and rejected by her father. Nine years later she is adopted by the strange wife of Baron Alphonse Frankenstein. Elizabeth discovers that Lady Caroline Frankenstein belongs to a secret witches' coven. She has adopted Elizabeth to create an intellectual companion for her son Victor. Lady Caroline has the two children tutored by an old crone, Seraphina, who teaches the "women's mysteries," which includes a series of erotic devotions that serve to reveal the ancient secrets of life. However, Victor would rather dissect animals and study electrical storms. Rejecting magic, instinct and sensuality for the power of aggressive intellect, Victor destroys his friendship with Elizabeth in a brutal act. This sets up Roszak's one ironic twist on the original novel, for when the creature finally emerges in the final chapters of the novel, he befriends Elizabeth; of course, this is before he strangles her on her wedding night. Ultimately, Roszak has written an allegory that despite its willingness to wallow in arcane sexual rites argues for the privileged position of supposedly "feminist" ideals. For Roszak, Dr. Frankenstein is more Pandora than "The Modern Prometheus." If you have read Shelley's novel (not to be confused with the various film versions) and have an appreciation for how the dawn of the Age of Science changed things, then you will find "The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein" to be a provocative story.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lyrical, sensitive... and not for light readers., April 11, 2000

By 

Miguel "Writer, Journalist, Film Critic" (Gijon, Spain) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a novel that works in amny levels. Of course, it is indeed, a masterful gothic. A bouquet to Mary Shelley and a very modern horror story, but beyond these layers it is also a study of the secrets of the women at a time when they were best thought of "in the dark"... and this is a dark story all right.

For those of use who longed for more about the enigmathic and tragic Elizabeth Lavenza-Frankenstein here is a book that won't be easily read, but neither will it be easily forgotten.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that works on so many levels...., March 20, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein (Mass Market Paperback)

This is not a book for the faint of heart. And it certainly isn't a book for fans of most so-called "gothic horror" currently padding the bookshelves. This isn't a "isn't it cool to be undead" power fantasy ride and it isn't a "gasp what's behind that corner" thriller. It is instead a masterful work of fiction blended with fact, as Roszak weaves a tapestry that has as its subject matter not just Elizabeth Frankenstein, but the pre-Victorian age she lived in, the dark Romanticism of the age, and the (all too forgotten) revelation of pre-Twentieth Century feminism, and the pain that came with it.

The sensuality surrounding Elizabeth and Victor's relationship, consumed by Victor's dark passions, feels natural and powerful. Sexuality is a form of strength within this text. A kind of power that one keeps to one's self. This is reflected both in the couple's experimentation with sexual alchemy and in the shattering of their bond through rape-as-marriage. It further is highlighted by the "editor's remarks" that annotate the work, which are a paragon of Victorian priggishness while forced to begrudgingly admire Elizabeth's "perversities."

Accurately rendered and excellently written, this book should appeal to serious students of Romanticism and light fiction lovers alike.

But don't come in expecting easy to digest screams