Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

What can I say... such a timeless classic. Thank you for your review, Encarna!

Dear mates,

What a good idea to recommend amusing stories to one another!

Let me contribute with something I read two years ago.

It was in 2012 when I heard about an exhibition about this novel at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Since then, I was really captivated by how this gothic story was given birth to, so I made up my mind to read this timeless classic in English. Not only has the story amazed everyone who has gone through its pages, but it has also inspired many authors to make new versions of it.

How the idea came up:

The Shelleys, Mary and her husband, were invited by Lord Byron to his house in Geneva in May 1816. They had to spend most of the time indoors because of the eruption of a volcano (Mount Tambora in Indonesia). It was a year without summer because a huge cloud covered the atmosphere in ash. So that, Lord Byron suggested them all should write a ghost story: it was then when Mary Shelley’s idea came up.

The story takes place in different locations of England, Italy, and Switzerland: London, Geneva, Lake Como, etc. 

Its main characters are:

·      Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious and well-educated young man. His studies lead him to the creation of a new being with the appearance of a monster.

·      The creature, confused and violent because of the circumstances. All he wants is to be accepted as a normal being.

·      Among other secondary characters are: Frankenstein’s father, who tries to help his son in his resolutions; Elizabeth with whom Dr. Frankenstein is engaged; Clerval, his lively friend; and R. Walton who appears at the beginning and at the end relating the surprising story of the Doctor to his sister.

Everything starts with Victor Frankenstein on board of a vessel, trying to put an end to his wretchedness. He tells the captain (R. Walton) the whole story of his life. The new creature he has created longs for company and sympathy. The fiend’s life revolves around that wish, no matter what he has to do to reach it, while Dr. Frankenstein devotes himself to keeping his family safe from the deamon’s grasp.

I am sure that the book will trap you. Considering that it’s been almost 200 years since the first publication, its power to astonish the reader remains. I definitely recommend reading the original rather than any of the adaptations, so this summer would be the right time to give it a try. 

Enjoy!

Encarna