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Frankenstein: The 1818 Text (Penguin Classics)
Mary Shelley’s classic novel, presented in its original 1818 text, with an introduction from National Book Critics Circle award-winner Charlotte Gordon
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
The original 1818 text of Frankenstein preserves the hard-hitting and politically-charged aspects of Shelley’s original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also emphasizes Shelley’s relationship with her mother—trailblazing feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who penned A Vindication of the Rights of Woman—and demonstrates her commitment to carrying forward her mother’s ideals, placing her in the context of a feminist legacy rather than the sole female in the company of male poets, including Percy Shelley and Lord Byron.
This edition includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by National Book Critics Circle award-winner and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon, and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing 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.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
The original 1818 text of Frankenstein preserves the hard-hitting and politically-charged aspects of Shelley’s original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also emphasizes Shelley’s relationship with her mother—trailblazing feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who penned A Vindication of the Rights of Woman—and demonstrates her commitment to carrying forward her mother’s ideals, placing her in the context of a feminist legacy rather than the sole female in the company of male poets, including Percy Shelley and Lord Byron.
This edition includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by National Book Critics Circle award-winner and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon, and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing 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
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.
So I really wanted to love Frankenstein. It was a long and hard read but I appreciate the beauty of the way Shelley portrayed that there is both good and evil in human nature and it's not always so simple to define that in a person. Inside everyone we are filled with both of these qualities. I like that the book gives you examples about good versus evil within the characters and the choices they make. There is a lot to take away from this book, Just like Frankenstein, there is plenty to take a part and put back together.
I read a review that explains him and this book just as beautifully as Shelly did "He is beyond good and evil because the peculiar conditions of his short life makes him behave in very wicked ways, yet he also shows a humane side, but that side of him is soon censored and he ends doing much more evil than good, he may have had the potential to redeem himself, but he never gets to, he is so misguided by his circumstances (being made ugly in a culture where ugly equals evil) that his behaviour is despicable, but one can feel sorry for him, he may qualify as an antivillain, or tragic hero, without the heroism. He is a tragic character and does have moral agency, but he fails to act to fully qualify as evil or good."
I read a review that explains him and this book just as beautifully as Shelly did "He is beyond good and evil because the peculiar conditions of his short life makes him behave in very wicked ways, yet he also shows a humane side, but that side of him is soon censored and he ends doing much more evil than good, he may have had the potential to redeem himself, but he never gets to, he is so misguided by his circumstances (being made ugly in a culture where ugly equals evil) that his behaviour is despicable, but one can feel sorry for him, he may qualify as an antivillain, or tragic hero, without the heroism. He is a tragic character and does have moral agency, but he fails to act to fully qualify as evil or good."
Read long ago and re-read for book club. I had forgotten the surrounding story of the ship captain on a quest for the theorized ice-free north pole sea. I had forgotten that Victor was such a whiner! He acts as if there is nothing he can do, he is completely at the mercy of his unfortunate destiny. He doesn't try to hunt down his creature or set a trap for it. Meanwhile, the creature just wants connection and is horribly rejected by everyone he meets, even his creator (what a jerk).
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