Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
1818
- frankenstein (fictitious character)
- frankenstein's monster (fictitious character)
- fiction
- victor frankenstein (fictitious character)
- scientists
- monsters
- fiction, horror
- frankenstein (fictitious character), fiction
- physicians, fiction
- british fiction (fictional works by one author)
The story
*Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus* is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.
What it’s like
Long, heavy-breathed sentences in a voice that alternates between feverish confession and cold natural description, so the prose itself feels like a storm front rolling over Alpine glaciers, Orkney cliffs and a damp, candlelit Ingolstadt laboratory. Much of the book is told through letters and nested framing narratives, which gives reading it the intimacy of someone else's diary left open on a table: the crackle of old paper, the sealed secrecy of a private grief. Its palette is mostly grey and white, lit by moonlight, lamplight and the pale glare of ice, with sudden bursts of dread in the wilderness. Vibe: melancholy, austere, restless, with a slow-building unease that lingers after the last page. It suits a rainy evening, a long cold night alone, or a quiet weekend with a mug of tea. Pacing is unhurried, with long reflective passages broken by sharp episodes of pursuit and despair. The emotional register is grief, guilt and loneliness, following a brilliant, self-absorbed man and the creature he rejects who each long for connection they cannot find. Intensity: moderate, with deaths described plainly and some disturbing violence and cruelty, but no gore for its own sake. For readers who love Gothic atmosphere, philosophical unease and gloomy landscapes more than fast plotting.
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