About this title: Written in 1816 when she was only 19, for a horror-writing contest suggested by Byron, Mary Shelley's novel of "the modern Prometheus" chillingly dramatized the dangerous potential of life created in the laboratory. A frightening creation myth for our own time, "Frankenstein" remains one of the greatest horror stories ever written, and an undisputed classic.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Study Guide ed.
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Sparknotes
Date Published: 01/2002
ISBN-13:9781586633578ISBN:1586633570
Description: Fine Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 72 p. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1979
ISBN-13:9780553212471ISBN:0553212478
Description: Poor. No dust jacket as issued. Book shows wear and tear, edges has some visible stains, though there are no torn or missing pages. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 256 p. Contains: Illustrations. Changing Our World. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1979
ISBN-13:9780553212471ISBN:0553212478
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 256 p. Contains: Illustrations. Changing Our World. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, Boston
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780312044695ISBN:0312044690
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Excellent condition. Very little wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 358 p. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, 1. Audience: General/trade. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. read more
"Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" rightly has a place in the pantheon of classic literature. Equally horrifying and profoundly saddening, the story of Victor Frankenstein and the creature whom he abandons has stood (and will continue to stand) as a grim indictment of society's creation of its own monsters. "Frankenstein" is a wonderful, strange, and thought-provoking read."
"Mary Shelley wrote this novel while on vacation with two poets - Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. Bored and stuck indoors during a week of rainy days, they entertained each other by making up ghost stories. Mary Shelley fleshed hers out into Frankenstein.
The monster in the book is nothing like the monster in the movie.
We're used to this incredibly hulking zombie with a screw stuck in his neck. Instead what we get here is an educated, emotional human being who relishes Paradise Lost, Plutarch's Lives, and Goethe.
I had the feeling Mary Shelley had given much thought to big eternal questions about God, creation, the nature of being human, and the like. Paradise Lost becomes the perfect allusion for her to use in that Victor Frankenstein like Milton's God -- responsible for a creation that goes haywire. She identifies her monster with Milton's Satan.
There are two major problems with the novel. First, the flowery early 19th Century is impossibly klutzy and tedious. "Hail vile insect! Tyrant and tormentor! - Curse the sun that gazes on your misery." Stuff like that.
Second, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, is a vile insect who spends the entire book abetting a serial murderer.
In spite of these problems, it's a great book deserving of its status as a classic.
The entire time I was reading it I couldn't help but think that here is Percy Shelley writing rapturously about the wild west wind, and Lord Byron scribbling down Childe Harold. Meanwhile, sweet 19-year-old Mary is writing this horror/monster book. I got a big kick out of picturing that."
"Trailer: "I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs" "...but now that I had finished, the beauty of dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." Victor Frankenstein, the scientist, tries to make a creature, but a creature turns out to be a hideous-looking monster. He runs away, but he never knows what this monster will bring to his family.
My thought: Great book. There are some hard vocabularies, but this book is interesting. How narrator changes in order to show what Frankenstein, monster, and other people think.
About the Author: Mary Shelley was born in London. She is famous for 'Frankenstein.' She was one of the feminists, the author of 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.' She was a British novelist, short story writer, essayist, biographer, and travel writer."
"Most of the people just do not get Frankenstein. It is more along the lines of an epic Romantic poem in a novel's form. The fact that the monster was abandoned by his creator is a direct symbol of the abandonment of men; be it some form of intelligent designer or the process of our own evolution. Either way, man has been abandoned in some fashion by some device. This is where I believe the work coincides with the Romantic period. The monster's request of Frankenstein to create him a mate is a Romantic notion by itself, not speaking of felicity, but of the need for companionship and understanding from a similar being. To know that he is not alone is to feel like he belongs somewhere in this world. The Romantic period is really the first period of writing where the "I" came up as an acceptable topic for writing. How could the Monster's request for sympathy be more fitting? For the Romantic writers, their writing was about them and their world, not the world itself. It was about them and their personal relationship with nature and their god. I believe that these points are the driving force of our ability to relate to Frankenstein the novel today."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
