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Frankenstein; By Mary Shelley
Topic Started: Jun 4 2014, 06:54 PM (189 Views)
Vanessa
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Madman
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At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.

Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever.
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William Bill
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This is easily one of the best books I've ever read. It's absolutely tragic and how well Shelley did making you feel for the monster is a testament to how good her skills really were. Also for a novel of this era, it's actually not a very difficult read nor is it overly descriptive, pedantic and dry. There is a reason this is classic literature and should be considered a must-read for any fan of the genre.

"I will be with you on your wedding night."
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Vanessa
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I also really love this book. I like the narration. The themes are really interesting and even more relevant today than they were when the book was first written. The characterization of the monster is perfect, but Victor's is very good, too. He's completely self-centered and oblivious, but he's still believable. I do wish the original edition was more common than the revised one. The changes are relatively minor, but I prefer it.
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William Bill
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I believe I read the original, I didn't even know there was a revision.

The monster's downward spiral from being a good "person" into madness and hatred really made a point with me.
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Vanessa
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The revision was first published in 1831, so I don't think most people are aware of it. I've changed my mind about what I said before. The changes are rather large, but there isn't one major thing that you can point to that can determine what edition you've read. It's a lot of minor changes that effect the overall tone of the story. The 1831 version is more common, but the odds of it being the one that you read depends on what decade the book you read was published in.
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William Bill
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Well, that would honestly be hard for me to determine. I don't believe I own a copy of it, I read it in high school during in school suspension (they loved to do that to me) and I believe it was a library copy.
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Vanessa
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I'm just going to keep going, because I meant to add this before I got distracted. The 1818 edition is more popular now with people that study Frankenstein. It had a small increase in popularity in the very early 80s, partially due to feminist literary critics' discussion of Elizabeth, who was one of the major subjects of the revision. (One of the more easy to find changes is that Elizabeth is Victor's cousin in the original.) It's current increase in popularity began in the 1990s.
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William Bill
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I thought she was supposed to be his cousin? I get the incest thing and all, but isn't that how it was written?
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Vanessa
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In the 1818 edition, Elizabeth is Victor's biological cousin. In the other, she's adopted.
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William Bill
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Well, people need to stop fucking with the writer's vision of the story. This is why readers typically prefer the original novel over the film adaptation.
Edited by William Bill, Jun 5 2014, 05:41 PM.
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Vanessa
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In this case, no one is completely sure how much of the revision was Mary Shelley's idea. I've read more interpretations that entirely credit the revisions to Mary Shelley, which is one of the reasons the second version is more common.
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William Bill
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Way to throw a monkey wrench in my argument.

I still say the original idea is better.
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Carl L Sanders
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Oh, the '31 revision was done by Mary Shelley. She attempted to make more of the tragedy due to Fate than any Promethean over-reaching. She also toned down the incest a bit. She was trying very hard at this time to be respectable, poor thing.
Many cheapo editions are, in fact, amalgams of the original and the revision.
On Topic: While I am sympathetic toward Mary, I consider her a poor writer. I had to force myself to finish Frankenstein and just could not get through The Last Man, her other SF novel.
Edited by Carl L Sanders, Feb 5 2017, 10:40 PM.
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