Synopses & Reviews
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.
Synopsis
Frankenstein is a masterpiece of nineteenth-century Gothicism and the prototype of the twentieth-century science-fiction novel. It was conceived in the Swiss Alps in mid-June 1816 after a conversation about bringing corpses to life provoked a nightmare, and was written over the next eleven months in largely morbid circumstances. Death and the terrors of childbirth--as much as Romanticism, a burgeoning awareness of unconscious drives, and contemporary ideas of atheism, the collapse of the social contract, and the corrupting influence of society on human nature--inform this story of a man (or monster) built by Dr. Victor Frankenstein and brought to life by electricity. The monster's culpability for various horrific acts, his powerlessness in the face of his complete ostracism from society, and Dr. Frankenstein's lies, abdication of responsibility, and the pain he inflicts on his creation raised chilling questions that made the novel an immediate bestseller.
Synopsis
Dr. Victor Frankenstein dreamt of achieving great things through science - even create life. But it all went horribly wrong and he turned away from the monster he had created. Now his creation is filled with hatred and roaming the countryside. The horrific tale is captured in this striking graphic novel adaptation of Mary Shelley's frightening novel. A creator biography and glossary help reluctant readers take the first step on the road to classic literature.
Synopsis
The horrific tale of Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his monstrous creation, written by a young Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, comes to vivid life in this title in the Graphic Horror series. Each title, adapted for grades 4-8, features world-class art from leading graphic novel illustrators, and contains a short bio and list of additional works by the original story's author.