Vintage Monsters: Frankenstein/Sexing the Cherry

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Jeanette Winterson

2 classic books for the price of 1: Vintage Monsters is a limited edition gift pack which consists of beautifully designed separate volumes of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Jeanette Winterson's Sexing the Cherry.

Vintage Monsters is just one of ten Vintage Classic Twins to collect. Each twin consists of two books: a specially designed limited edition of one modern classic title and one established classic work. The books in each pair have been carefully selected to provide a thought-provoking combination.


Frankenstein: One freezing morning, a lone man wandering across the artic ice caps is rescued from starvation by a ship's captain. Victor Frankenstein's story is one of ambition, murder and revenge. As a young scientist he pushed moral boundaries in order to cross the final scientific frontier and create life. But his creation is a monster stitched together from grave-robbed body parts who has no place in the world, and his life can only lead to tragedy.

Sexing the Cherry: Sexing the Cherry follows the adventures of Jordan, an explorer, and his mother, the gigantic and violent 'Dog Woman'. Jeanette Winterson's stunning novel celebrates the power of the imagination as it juggles with our perception of history and reality; love and sex; lies and truths; and 12 dancing princesses who lived happily ever after, but not with their husbands.

200 pages, paper

First published August 2, 2007

About the author

Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, often known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, travel writer, and editor of the works of her husband, Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin and the writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer in her own lifetime, though reviewers often missed the political edge to her novels. After her death, however, she was chiefly remembered only as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein. It was not until 1989, when Emily Sunstein published her prizewinning biography Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality, that a full-length scholarly biography analyzing all of Shelley's letters, journals, and works within their historical context was published.

The well-meaning attempts of Mary Shelley's son and daughter-in-law to "Victorianise" her memory through the censoring of letters and biographical material contributed to a perception of Mary Shelley as a more conventional, less reformist figure than her works suggest. Her own timid omissions from Percy Shelley's works and her quiet avoidance of public controversy in the later years of her life added to this impression.

The eclipse of Mary Shelley's reputation as a novelist and biographer meant that, until the last thirty years, most of her works remained out of print, obstructing a larger view of her achievement. She was seen as a one-novel author, if that. In recent decades, however, the republication of almost all her writings has stimulated a new recognition of its value. Her voracious reading habits and intensive study, revealed in her journals and letters and reflected in her works, is now better appreciated. Shelley's recognition of herself as an author has also been recognized; after Percy's death, she wrote about her authorial ambitions: "I think that I can maintain myself, and there is something inspiriting in the idea". Scholars now consider Mary Shelley to be a major Romantic figure, significant for her literary achievement and her political voice as a woman and a liberal.

Reviews

[Naya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this Vintage Monsters Duo and the 2 books made me think deeply about a lot of topics. Frankenstein was a horror book, written in the Romantic era, that delved into both Man and Monster’s descent into madness, violence, and death. On the other hand, Sexing the Cherry was a feminist novel, written in the post-modern sense, that talked about both Man and Monster’s voyages into the unknown world and the unknown self. Both stories make us rethink about our similarities with the Monsters that we create and we attach ourselves into.

Frankenstein

Surprisingly good. The writing and structure of the book were beautiful. You could see Romanticism in the novel as Shelley links man and his emotions to nature and its beauty. Since it was my first time encountering such a format, I'd feel bored with the long passages of nature, places, and other sceneries. But when I got to the ending, I realized that all these descriptions were vital to the overall story of Frankenstein's Monster, Victor Frankenstein, and even Robert Walton. In terms of horror, death, and despair, this book had a lot in store. We'd see Victor journey into madness and despair as his "Creation" killed all of his loved ones and hopes of a good future . At the same time, we'd see the monster deal with love and loneliness and eventually turn from good to evil. The story also had many parallelisms between the three characters mentioned above, and it was like an aha moment when I concluded reading the book. I would definitely re-read this novel.

P.S. Despite the greatness of the story, I still believe Victor Frankenstein is a selfish coward who does not own up to his creation, his actions, and his choices

Sexing the Cherry

This was the first post-modern novel that I’ve read and I loved it. Like Frankenstein, the story of the protagonist was a story within a grander narrative. We follow Jordan and the Dog Woman, the “Monster” and his adoptive Mother, narrate the events that happened on their different voyages. Jordan had different stories of magical cities filled with magical albeit not moral people. He also met with the Twelve Dancing Princess who had their own stories of magic, love, and loss. At the same time, the Dog Woman narrates the time of King Charles and his death which would lead to a series of murderous events and after that the time of the “Pineapple”. The book had markers to identify these shifting narratives Jordan for the Pineapple and the Dog Woman for the Banana. Both fruits have meaning to the two characters and other fruits like the cherry have meaning for the points touched upon by the author.

The book was very progressive, honest, and feminist in talking about sex, love, and what it means to be a woman. It’s also scientific in a way that it makes us rethink about our understanding of time, space, events, memories, bodies, and even magical things. Overall, I loved this book and would definitely re-read it again.

[a hooded figure from your friendly neighbourhood dog park · Rating 4 out of 5]

After I got used to the writing style and got through the first pages, Frankenstein was as inspiring as I'd hoped it to be. Sexing the Cherry, on the other hand, I had to drop because one of the narrators (the monster woman), just plain squicked me on a personal level; might return to it later.

[Silent.recluse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vintage style of books are... unqiue.

[Cisem Kinali · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book