Eddie Whitlock's Blog: Reader and Writer - Posts Tagged "man"
Frankenstein
I'm struggling right now to listen to the audiobook for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It is a struggle, but it is much easier than my repeated attempts to read the book.
Like so many folks, I loved the Frankenstein Monster created by James Whale and Boris Karloff. To struggle through the original source material hurts. I really want to like this book. I love the Old Monster.
The book, though, is less a horror story and more of a reflection on our nature as the abandoned children of God. Created and then set free to find agony in the rejection of others and the recognition of our own hideousness, we are angry Adams, challenging God to give happiness to His creation.
I realize the book was really a short story originally and was probably more exciting in that format. In its published form, it is padded with unnecessary meandering that doesn't do a lot to further the plot nor our understanding of the characters. Instead, we - at best - may see the horridness of the life of the Monster because it is juxtaposed with those of various "normal" folks.
Despite this, I have all the more respect for Shelley's having written this, the first science fiction novel. Never once do I question the "science" behind the creation of the Monster. (Btw, it's done with chemistry and without lightning.)
I'm about halfway through the book at this point and it's been a long journey. I'm determined to make it. And then, well. Lookout, Dracula.
Like so many folks, I loved the Frankenstein Monster created by James Whale and Boris Karloff. To struggle through the original source material hurts. I really want to like this book. I love the Old Monster.
The book, though, is less a horror story and more of a reflection on our nature as the abandoned children of God. Created and then set free to find agony in the rejection of others and the recognition of our own hideousness, we are angry Adams, challenging God to give happiness to His creation.
I realize the book was really a short story originally and was probably more exciting in that format. In its published form, it is padded with unnecessary meandering that doesn't do a lot to further the plot nor our understanding of the characters. Instead, we - at best - may see the horridness of the life of the Monster because it is juxtaposed with those of various "normal" folks.
Despite this, I have all the more respect for Shelley's having written this, the first science fiction novel. Never once do I question the "science" behind the creation of the Monster. (Btw, it's done with chemistry and without lightning.)
I'm about halfway through the book at this point and it's been a long journey. I'm determined to make it. And then, well. Lookout, Dracula.
Reader and Writer
I began to write because it seemed to be a realm in which one could exercise omnipotence. It's not.
My characters demand to make their own decisions and often the outcomes are wildly different from wha ...more
My characters demand to make their own decisions and often the outcomes are wildly different from wha ...more
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