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Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus
The world’s most famous work of horror fiction: a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Mary Shelley's timeless gothic novel presents the epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor to the very brink of madness. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship, scientific hubris, and horror. Based on the third edition of 1831, this Penguin Classics edition, with an introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle, contains all the revisions Mary Shelley made to her story, as well as her 1831 introduction and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s preface to the first edition. It also includes as appendices a select collation of the texts of 1818 and 1831 together with "A Fragment" by Lord Byron and Dr John Polidori’s "The Vampyre: A Tale."
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Mary Shelley's timeless gothic novel presents the epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor to the very brink of madness. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship, scientific hubris, and horror. Based on the third edition of 1831, this Penguin Classics edition, with an introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle, contains all the revisions Mary Shelley made to her story, as well as her 1831 introduction and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s preface to the first edition. It also includes as appendices a select collation of the texts of 1818 and 1831 together with "A Fragment" by Lord Byron and Dr John Polidori’s "The Vampyre: A Tale."
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Community Reviews
If you have a God complex and/or Daddy issues, then this is the book for you!!! Mary Shelley wrote the scariest story known to mankind, which is basically what happens when a man invents something highly destructive and then regrets it, but it's way too late and it bites him -- but mostly OTHER PEOPLE -- in the ass (also see: the nuclear bomb). Really, the story of Pandora's Box was probably about a man. Great work, Mary. I've also done really destructive things to get my father's attention, so this book was very relatable.
Not the story I expected
I had no idea the tragedy that befell Frankenstein after he created his monster. Why did he marry when he had been warned? Senseless tragedy. I know it's a classic but it was not to my taste.
I had no idea the tragedy that befell Frankenstein after he created his monster. Why did he marry when he had been warned? Senseless tragedy. I know it's a classic but it was not to my taste.
Read the 1831version. Fantastic book that can be looked at through a myriad of social and political lenses. It got me out of a long reading slump.
This book was very good. I liked the romantic aspects that went into it. I hated/liked Victor as a character. He could have avoided all of this death and destruction by being a good “parent” to the creature. I also think the creature is partly to blame because his heart was so filled up on revenge that he killed innocents and good hearted people. Overall this was a good story and I liked the mystery to it.
This was amazing.
This was the first book I've read in a long time that grabbed a hold of me and made me want to know what what going to happen next, how this tale was going to end. So much so that I brought this book to work with me and read before my shift started, during my first fifteen minute break, during lunch, and then again at my second/last fifteen minute break. I was only sort of familiar with the tale of Frankenstein and his "monster". I've never read this before nor do I recall ever sitting down and watching any of the many films that have been made based around the story. So I wasn't entirely sure what kind of story would be contained within the pages. I wasn't disappointed and it wasn't what I was expecting.
There is no clear hero to this story. There is no clear villain. There is only arrogance, bad choices, and my not knowing whose side I'm cheering for because, honestly, both sides are epic in their wrongness.
In short, such a good story.
The only reason I didn't give this five stars is because I wish it had ended differently. I was waiting for some sort of payoff at the end that simply didn't arrive. Which is cool because there is a high degree of realism to the way the story ended, but the part of me that wanted and was expecting something different forced me to give it four stars which isn't too shabby!
Recommended for those that love under-stated horror and those that have seen all of those Frankenstein renditions on film. Be a completist. Read the book!
This was the first book I've read in a long time that grabbed a hold of me and made me want to know what what going to happen next, how this tale was going to end. So much so that I brought this book to work with me and read before my shift started, during my first fifteen minute break, during lunch, and then again at my second/last fifteen minute break. I was only sort of familiar with the tale of Frankenstein and his "monster". I've never read this before nor do I recall ever sitting down and watching any of the many films that have been made based around the story. So I wasn't entirely sure what kind of story would be contained within the pages. I wasn't disappointed and it wasn't what I was expecting.
There is no clear hero to this story. There is no clear villain. There is only arrogance, bad choices, and my not knowing whose side I'm cheering for because, honestly, both sides are epic in their wrongness.
In short, such a good story.
The only reason I didn't give this five stars is because I wish it had ended differently. I was waiting for some sort of payoff at the end that simply didn't arrive. Which is cool because there is a high degree of realism to the way the story ended, but the part of me that wanted and was expecting something different forced me to give it four stars which isn't too shabby!
Recommended for those that love under-stated horror and those that have seen all of those Frankenstein renditions on film. Be a completist. Read the book!
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