Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Annotated and Illustrated: The Uncensored 1818 Text with Maps, Essays, and Analysis (Oldstyle Tales' Gothic Novels)

Completely annotated and provided with maps, essays, and chilling illustrations, this unique edition of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" answers some of readers' most lingering questions, clarifies historical references, and probes into the sensitive biographical nature of Mary Shelley's landmark novel. One of the most influential masterpieces of horror in the English language, "Frankenstein" straddles science fiction, horror, romance, the weird tale, and the literary allegory. Aside from the monomaniacal student of dark arts, the pensive bride throttled in her uncreased wedding bed, and the dramatic landscapes of Arctic ice fields and alpine vistas, Frankenstein is the story of poor stewardship, failed fatherhood, lost innocence, painful alienation, social rejection, the entangled relationship between adoring love and septic hatred, and the unfairness of a world which evicts a warm, gentle, curious, and eager spirit based on the casing of its skin. It raises relevant questions of technology, scientific responsibility, racism, sexism, community, environmentalism, progressivism, tolerance, diversity, love, and social responsibility, all wrapped in a psychologically complex, chilling narrative of grave robbing, playing god, murder, necrophilia, sublimated sexuality, and existential horror.

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Published Jan 4, 2017

240 pages

Average rating: 7.62

779 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

jeabot
May 30, 2024
6/10 stars
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.
Pferdina
Jul 05, 2025
8/10 stars
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).
LDSBuddha
May 29, 2025
7/10 stars
The logic of the "monster's" morals gave him a depth of character that was unexpected
Megera
Apr 05, 2025
10/10 stars
Utter masterpiece from the creator of the sci-fi/horror genre as we know it today.
Rizzle
Mar 29, 2025
9/10 stars
A maddening, terror love story!

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