The text of this Norton Critical Edition is that of the 1818 first edition, published in three volumes by Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, and Jones, in which only obvious typographical errors have been corrected. This text represents what Frankenstein’s first readers encountered and is the text favored by scholars. A special critical section, Composition and Revision, includes essays by M. K. Joseph and Anne Mellor that address the issues surrounding teachers’ choice of text. Contemporary perspectives of the text are provided in two sections: Contexts helps place the novel in relation to the mind of its creator through writings by Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John William Polidori; Nineteenth-Century Responses collects six reactions to the book from the years 1818 to 1886. Criticism brings together twelve seminal essays. The emphasis is on range–both critical (psychoanalytic, mythic, new historicist, and feminist essays are included) and chronological (essays span the last thirty years). Christopher Small, George Lebine, Ellen Moers, Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Barbara Johnson, Mary Poovey, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, William Veeder, Anne K. Mellor, Susan Winnett, Marilyn Butler, and Lawrence Lipking provide diverse perspectives. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Features

• Comprehensive study of the book Frankenstein
• Presents the full original 1818 text
• Presents various contexts by the author and others of the day
• Presents 19th century responses and with exerpts from magazines
• Presents modern day criticism and author chronological biography

Enter the haunting world of Frankenstein, a chilling masterpiece that defies the boundaries of science and morality. In this gripping tale of creation and consequence, Mary Shelley weaves a captivating narrative that explores the depths of human ambition and the perils of playing god. Victor Frankenstein, driven by a relentless desire to unlock the secrets of life, breathes existence into a monstrous being. But as the consequences of his actions unfold, he is consumed by regret and terror. With its timeless themes of humanity, power, and the consequences of unchecked ambition, “Frankenstein” remains a thought-provoking and spine-tingling classic that continues to captivate readers to this day.. A timeless tale of ambition, creation, and monstrous consequences. Delve into the haunting depths of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece. Explore the moral and ethical boundaries of scientific pursuit. Unleash your imagination in a world of gothic horror. Experience the gripping power of “Frankenstein” and its enduring legacy.

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley about the young student of science Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque but sentient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley’s name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823.Shelley had travelled through Europe in 1814, journeying along the river Rhine in Germany with a stop in Gernsheim which is just 17 km (10 mi) away from Frankenstein Castle, where two centuries before an alchemist was engaged in experiments. Later, she travelled in the region of Geneva (Switzerland)–where much of the story takes place–and the topics of galvanism and other similar occult ideas were themes of conversation among her companions, particularly her lover and future husband, Percy Shelley. Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, and John Polidori decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. After thinking for days, Shelley dreamt about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made; her dream later evolved into the story within the novel.

Shelley’s classic hints in part at the possible dangers inherent in the pursuit of pure science; it also portrays the injustice of a society which persecutes outcasts such as the “Monster.” Disturbing and profoundly moving, Frankenstein has become part of our own mythology.