Frankenstein: Suggested Resources

"This revision of a widely adopted critical edition presents the 1831 text of Mary Shelley's English Romantic novel along with critical essays that read Frankenstein from five contemporary critical perspectives. A sixth essay by Fred Botting demonstrates how several critical perspectives can be combined." "Each critical essay is accompanied by an introduction to the critical perspective and by a bibliography that promotes further exploration of that approach. The text and essays are complemented by introductions to biographical and historical contexts of Frankenstein and to its critical history and by a glossary of critical and theoretical terms."--Jacket.

In 1816, during "The Year Without a Summer," these iconic gothic tales resulted from a legendary ghost story contest between friends. Includes Frankenstein, "The Vampyre," "A Fragment," and "Fragment of a Ghost story."

Provides strategies on writing essays about Shelley and her defining work. This series inspires students to write compelling essays on great authors and their works by encouraging their academic inquisitiveness and sharpening their critical-thinking skills. Each book also includes a guide to the elements that make up a good essay.

Presents a collection of writings exploring the characters from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Mary Shelley's classic gothic novel, Frankenstein, is one of the most widely studied novels in English Literature. Due to its key position in the canon and its wide cultural influence, the novel has been the subject of many interpretations, which require some guidance to navigate. This book offers an authoritative, up-to-date guide for students, introducing its context, language, themes, criticism and afterlife, leading them to a more sophisticated understanding of the text. Graham Allen places Frankenstein in its historical, intellectual and cultural contexts, offering analyses of its themes, style and structure, providing exemplary close readings, and presenting an up-to-date account of its critical reception. It also includes an introduction to its substantial history as an adapted text on stage and screen and its wider influence in film and popular culture. It includes points for discussion, suggestions for further study and an annotated guide to relevant reading.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of the most widely read novels of all time. Its two central characters, the scientist Victor Frankenstein and the being he creates, have gained mythic status in their own right. Engaging with the novel's characterization is crucial to gaining a real understanding of its themes and contexts, including education, gender difference, imperialism, personal identity, revolutionary politics, and science. This study includes: an introductory overview of the novel, including a brief account of its historical and literary contexts; its reception history; discussion of the major themes and narrative structure; detailed analysis of, the representation of main characters, such as Walton, Frankenstein, and the creature; and a conclusion reminding students of the links between the characters and the key themes and issues.

Frankenstein and Its Classics is the first collection of scholarship dedicated to how Frankenstein and works inspired by it draw on ancient Greek and Roman literature, history, philosophy, and myth. Presenting twelve new essays intended for students, scholars, and other readers of Mary Shelley's novel, the volume explores classical receptions in some of Frankenstein's most important scenes, sources, and adaptations. Not limited to literature, the chapters discuss a wide range of modern materials-including recent films like Alex Garland's Ex Machina and comics like Matt Fraction's and Christian Ward's Ody-C-in relation to ancient works including Hesiod's Theogony, Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Apuleius's The Golden Ass.

One murky night in 1816, on the shores of Lake Geneva, the celebrated English poet Lord Byron challenged his friends to a contest -- to see who could write the best ghost story. The assembled group included the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; his lover (and future wife) Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont; and Byron's physician, John William Polidori. The famous result was Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", a work that has retained its hold on the popular imagination for almost two centuries. Less well known was the curious Polidori's contribution: the first vampire novel. The evening begat a curse, too: within a few years of "Frankenstein"'s publication, nearly all of those involved met untimely deaths. Drawing upon letters, rarely tapped archives, and their own magisterial reading of "Frankenstein", Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler have written a rip-roaring tale of obsession and creation. -- From publisher's description.

Mary Shelley's 1818 novel "Frankenstein" is its own type of monster myth that will not die. What makes this tale so adaptable and so resilient that, nearly 200 years later, it remains vitally relevant in a culture radically different from the one that spawned its birth? "Monstrous Progeny" takes readers on a fascinating exploration of the Frankenstein family tree, analyzing the evolution of the book's figures and themes into modern productions that range from children's cartoons to pornography. Along the way, Lester D. Friedman and Allison B. Kavey examine the adaptation and evolution of Victor Frankenstein and his monster across different genres and in different eras, demonstrating how Shelley's tale and its characters provide crucial reference points for current debates about bioethics, artificial intelligence, cyborg lifeforms, and the limits of scientific progress. The authors reveal how the Frankenstein legacy arose from a series of fluid intellectual contexts and continues to pulsate through an extraordinary body of media products. -- From publisher's description.

Frankenstein began as the nightmare of an unwed teenage mother in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1816. At a time when the moral universe was shifting and advances in scientific knowledge promised humans dominion over that which had been God's alone, Mary Shelley envisioned a story of human presumption and its misbegotten consequences. Two centuries later, that story is still constantly retold and reinterpreted, from Halloween cartoons to ominous allusions in the public debate, capturing and conveying meaning central to our consciousness today and our concerns for tomorrow. From Victorian musical theater to Boris Karloff with neck bolts, to invocations at the President's Council on Bioethics, the monster and his myth have inspired everyone from cultural critics to comic book addicts. This is a lively and eclectic cultural history, illuminated with dozens of pictures and illustrations, and told with skill and humor. Susan Tyler Hitchcock uses film, literature, history, science, and even punk music to help us understand the meaning of this monster made by man. 68 illustrations. -- From publisher's description.

From her youth, Mary Shelley immersed herself in the social contract tradition, particularly the educational and political theories of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as the radical philosophies of her parents, the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the anarchist William Godwin. Against this background, Shelley wrote Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, first published in 1818. In the two centuries since, her masterpiece has been celebrated as a Gothic classic and its symbolic resonance has driven the global success of its publication, translation, and adaptation in theater, film, art, and literature. However, in Mary Shelley and the Rights of the Child, Eileen Hunt Botting argues that Frankenstein is more than an original and paradigmatic work of science fiction - it is a profound reflection on a radical moral and political question: do children have rights? Botting contends that Frankenstein invites its readers to reason through the ethical consequences of a counterfactual premise: what if a man had used science to create a human life without a woman? Immediately after the Creature's'birth,'his scientist-father abandons him and the unjust and tragic consequences that follow form the basis of Frankenstein's plot. Botting finds in the novel's narrative structure a series of interconnected thought experiments that reveal how Shelley viewed Frankenstein's Creature for what he really was—a stateless orphan abandoned by family, abused by society, and ignored by law. The novel, therefore, compels readers to consider whether children have the right to the fundamental means for their development as humans—namely, rights to food, clothing, shelter, care, love, education, and community.In Botting's analysis, Frankenstein emerges as a conceptual resource for exploring the rights of children today, especially those who are disabled, stateless, or genetically modified by medical technologies such as three-parent in vitro fertilization and, perhaps in the near future, gene editing. Mary Shelley and the Rights of the Child concludes that the right to share love and community, especially with parents or fitting substitutes, belongs to all children, regardless of their genesis, membership, or social status.

Focusing on films outside the horror genre, this book offers a unique account of the Frankenstein myth's popularity and endurance. Although the Frankenstein narrative has been a staple in horror films, it has also crossed over into other genres, particularly comedy and science fiction, resulting in such films as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Bladerunner, and the Alien and Terminator film series. In addition to addressing horror's relationship to comedy and science fiction, the book also explores the versatility and power of the Frankenstein narrative as a contemporary myth through which our deepest attitudes concerning gender (masculine versus feminine), race (Same versus Other), and technology (natural versus artificial) are both revealed and concealed. The book not only examines the films themselves, but also explores early drafts of film scripts, scenes that were cut from the final releases, publicity materials, and reviews, in order to consider more fully how and why the Frankenstein myth continues to resonate in the popular imagination.

Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" has endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. The dramatic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his stitched-together creature can be read as the ultimate parable of scientific hubris. Victor, "the modern Prometheus," tries to do what he perhaps should have left to Nature: create life. Although the novel is most often discussed in literary-historical terms -- as a seminal example of romanticism or as a groundbreaking early work of science fiction -- Mary Shelley was keenly aware of contemporary scientific developments and incorporated them into her story. In our era of synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and climate engineering, this edition of "Frankenstein" will resonate forcefully for readers with a background or interest in science and engineering, and anyone intrigued by fundamental questions of creativity and responsibility. -- From publisher's description.

In Victor Frankenstein, the Monster and the Shadows of Technology: The Frankenstein Prophecies, Romanyshyn asks eight questions that uncover how Mary Shelley's classic work Frankenstein haunts our world. Providing a uniquely interdisciplinary assessment, Romanyshyn combines Jungian theory, literary criticism and mythology to explore answers to the query at the heart of this book: who is the monster? In the first six questions, Romanyshyn explores how Victor's story and the Monster's tale linger today as the dark side of Frankenstein's quest to create a new species that would bless him as its creator. Victor and the Monster are present in the guises of climate crises, the genocides of our "god wars," the swelling worldwide population of refugees, the loss of place in digital space, the Western obsession with eternal youth and the eclipse of the biological body in genetic and computer technologies that are redefining what it means to be human. In the book's final two questions, Romanyshyn uncovers some seeds of hope in Mary Shelley's work and explores how the Monster's tale reframes her story as a love story. This important book will be essential reading for academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian theory, literature, philosophy and psychology, psychotherapists in practice and in training, and for all who are concerned with the political, social and cultural crises we face today.

The year 1818 saw the publication of one of the most influential science-fiction stories of all time. "Frankenstein: Or, Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley had a huge impact on gothic horror and science fiction genres, and her creation has become part of our everyday culture. How did a teenager with no formal education come up with the idea for an extraordinary novel such as "Frankenstein"? "Making the Monster" explores the scientific background behind Mary Shelley's book. Is there any science fact behind the science fiction? And how might a real-life Victor Frankenstein have gone about creating his monster? From tales of volcanic eruptions, artificial life and chemical revolutions, to experimental surgery, 'monsters' and electrical experiments on human cadavers, Kathryn Harkup examines the science and scientists that influenced Shelley, and inspired her most famous creation. -- From publisher's description.

The tale of a tormented creature created in a laboratory began in 1816 in the imagination of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, newly married to the celebrated Romantic poet Percy Shelley. Since its publication in 1818 "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" has spread around the globe through every possible medium and variation. For all its long history, ""Frankenstein""'s central premise -- that science, not magic or God, can create a living being, and thus these creators must answer for their actions -- is most relevant today as scientists approach creating synthetic life. In its popular and cultural weight and its expression of the ethical issues raised by the advance of science, physicist Sidney Perkowitz and film expert Eddy Von Mueller have brought together scholars and scientists, artists and directors to celebrate and examine Mary Shelley's marvelous creation and its legacy as the monster moves into his next century. -- From publisher's description.

Many of the bioethical and medical issues challenging society today have been anticipated and addressed in literature ranging from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Albert Camus’s The Plague, to Margaret Edson's Wit. The ten works of fiction explored in this book stimulate lively dialogue on topics like bioterrorism, cloning, organ transplants, obesity and heart disease, sexually transmitted diseases, and civil and human rights. This interdisciplinary and multicultural approach introducing literature across the curricula helps students master medical and bioethical concepts brought about by advances in science and technology, bringing philosophy into the world of science -- Publisher description

Although we have come to regard 'clinical' and 'romantic' as oppositional terms, romantic literature and clinical medicine were fed by the same cultural configurations. In the pre-Darwinian nineteenth century, writers and doctors developed an interpretive method that negotiated between literary and scientific knowledge of the natural world. Literary writers produced potent myths that juxtaposed the natural and the supernatural, often disturbing the conventional dualist hierarchy of spirit over flesh. Clinicians developed the two-part history and physical examination, weighing the patient's narrative against the evidence of the body. Examining fiction by Mary Shelley, Carlyle, the Brontës and George Eliot, alongside biomedical lectures, textbooks and articles, Janis McLarren Caldwell demonstrates the similar ways of reading employed by nineteenth-century doctors and imaginative writers and reveals the complexities and creative exchanges of the relationship between literature and medicine.

Exploring the frightful milieu in which "Frankenstein" was written, Roseanne Montillo recounts how Shelley's Victor Frankenstein mirrored actual scientists of the period. Montillo paints a rich portrait of Shelley and her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their contemporaries and their friend Lord Byron. Intellectually curious, they were artists, poets, and philosophers, united in captivation with the occultists and daring scientists risking their reputations and their immortal souls to advance our understanding of human anatomy and medicine. These remarkable investigations could not be undertaken without the cutthroat grave robbers who prowled cemeteries for a supply of fresh corpses. The newly dead were used for both private and public autopsies and dissections, as well as the most daring trials of all: attempts at human reanimation through the application of electricity. Montillo takes us into a world where poets become legends in salons and boudoirs; where fame-hungry "doctors" conduct shocking performances for rabid, wide-eyed audiences; and where maniacal body snatchers secretly toil in castle dungeons. -- From publisher's description.

The Gothic is wildly diverse. It can refer to ecclesiastical architecture, supernatural fiction, cult horror films, and a distinctive style of rock music. It has influenced political theorists and social reformers, as well as Victorian home décor and contemporary fashion. This "Very Short Introduction" captures the history of the Gothic from ancient times to the present. It covers the sack of Rome by the barbarian tribes, medieval architecture, popular culture in the sixteenth century (including ballads and Revenge Tragedy), political theories of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the rise of the Gothic novel, the Victorian Gothic Revival, and the influence of Gothic culture on film, music, and fashion. It includes familiar Gothic novels such as "Frankenstein" and "Dracula", while also covering Gothic gardening, slasher movies, and the current Goth scene. It is the only account of the Gothic that describes the entire history of the term, presenting it in all its richly complex and perversely contradictory glory. -- From publisher's description.

The Gothic has become in recent years an enormously popular and respected field of study. David Punter has compiled a "Companion" designed to become the standard reference work for scholars and students. As well as providing a series of stimulating insights into Gothic writing, its history and genealogy, the volume also offers comprehensive coverage of criticism of the Gothic and of the various theoretical approaches it has inspired and spawned. The "Companion" consists of twenty-four essays. Each essay is written by a leading scholar in the field. In addition to providing major authors and texts, the essays explore European and American dimensions of Gothic; Gothic painting; the British ghost story; horror fiction; psychoanalytic, historicist and feminist approaches to the Gothic; Gothic cinema; and issues of counterfeit, madness and magic realism in relation to Gothic materials. -- From publisher's description.

A Companion to Science Fiction assembles essays by an international range of scholars which discuss the contexts, themes and methods used by science fiction writers. * This Companion conveys the scale and variety of science fiction. * Shows how science fiction has been used as a means of debating cultural issues. * Essays by an international range of scholars discuss the contexts, themes and methods used by science fiction writers. * Addresses general topics, such as the history and origins of the genre, its engagement with science and gender, and national variations of science fiction around the English-speaking world. * Maps out connections between science fiction, television, the cinema, virtual reality technology, and other aspects of the culture. * Includes a section focusing on major figures, such as H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula Le Guin. * Offers close readings of particular novels, from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

The Companion to Romanticism is a major introductory survey from an international galaxy of scholars writing new pieces, specifically for a student readership, under the editorship of Duncan Wu.

For all its concern with change in the present and future, science fiction is deeply rooted in the past and, surprisingly, engages especially deeply with the ancient world. Indeed, both as an area in which the meaning of "classics" is actively transformed and as an open-ended set of texts whose own 'classic' status is a matter of ongoing debate, science fiction reveals much about the roles played by ancient classics in modern times. Classical Traditions in Science Fiction is the first collection in English dedicated to the study of science fiction as a site of classical receptions, offering a much-needed mapping of that important cultural and intellectual terrain.

"In Imagination and Science in Romanticism, Richard Sha challenges the idea that the imagination could only be applied to the literary and that its primary role was to transcend scientific concerns. Sha shows how the imagination functioned within physics and chemistry in Prometheus Unbound, neurology in Blake's Four Zoas, physiology in Coleridge's Biographia Literaria, and obstetrics and embryology in Frankenstein. Sha also shows how the imagination was used in the scientific community, highlighting as primary examples the work of Davy, Faraday, Priestley, Kant, Mary Somerville, Oersted, Marcet, Swedenborg, Blumenbach, Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, and Von Baer, among others. Both fields profited from thinking about how the imagination could cooperate with reason and how hypotheses that had the possibility of actuality could benefit their work" -- Provided by publisher.

The sublime in literature is described as the sense of awe that is evoked in the presence of nature or great works of art. In this engaging new volume, the role of the sublime is discussed in Emma, "Ode to the West Wind," Song of Myself, and many other works. -- From publisher's description.