Cover image for

Frankenstein

Subtitle or, the Modern Prometheus
Language English
Published 1818
Notes

The novel begins on a ship sailing north of the Arctic Circle, where the captain spots a figure traveling across the ice on a dog sled. This is Victor Frankenstein's creature, and close behind is Dr. Frankenstein himself. Invited onto the boat, the weak and ill Doctor tells the story of his alchemical studies and eventual construction of a man from inanimate matter.

Approx. 75,179 words.

Excerpt

tes me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose--a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I have read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which have been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember that a history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the whole of our good Uncle Thomas' library. My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret which I had felt, as a child, on learning that my father's dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life.

These visions faded when I perused, for the first time, those poets whose effusions entranced my soul and lifted it to heaven. I also became a poet and for one year lived in a paradi

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2007.05.12
Sid

This book is more than a horror novel. It's very mythological in scale. Yes it has its scary moments made famous by countless movies, but there is a lot more to that. One recurring theme that impresses me even to this day is the constant fight between master and creation, father and son, and even hints of God and Adam. Who knows if Mary Shelley meant to write this way, but it shows a mark of a talent far too wasted later in her life. Read it for the horror, the tension, the loneliness and guilt.

2006.08.17
HellCold

I first read this book thinking it was "just another story where people scream and fill the screen with blood," but after I had finished it, I realised how amazing our silly childish nightmares can be if translated into such a tale of horror, humanity, fate and justice. Mary Shelley wrote this book when she was just 19, I think, but after finishing it, I couldn't but wonder how brilliant she was. The only thing I regret is that she didn't write more books as taking as that one. I recommend everyone above 13 to read this book, and you'll surely enjoy it as much as I did. If you missed that book, you missed half of the "Horror" definition.

2005.05.26
achuta

it's outstanding, it's superb, it's brilliant....