Frankenstein: The 1818 Text in Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Bookshelf

May 11, 2018 Max rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gothic

It was interesting to read this book for fun rather than for school, especially because this time around I read an academic edition and I used the original 1818 text rather than the 1831 version. It's been long enough since I first read Frankenstein that I didn't really notice significant differences, but according to the introduction and the readings in here, there are some significant ones, and I'm sure a close study of the two versions side by side would be interesting. The academic material, It was interesting to read this book for fun rather than for school, especially because this time around I read an academic edition and I used the original 1818 text rather than the 1831 version. It's been long enough since I first read Frankenstein that I didn't really notice significant differences, but according to the introduction and the readings in here, there are some significant ones, and I'm sure a close study of the two versions side by side would be interesting. The academic material, which makes up more than half of the page count, definitely enhanced my enjoyment of this book a great deal.

As far as Frankenstein the novel itself goes, I'm still not the biggest fan. It's interesting to see how different it is from the pop culture version, especially in that the focus is much more on the consequences of Victor's act of creation than on that act itself. The movies I've seen spend a lot of time building up how Victor makes the monster, but in the novel, he's careful to not explain how he does what he does. The idea of using lightning is a reasonable surmise based on some of the bits in the text and the science of the time, but it's not explicit in the text. As a horror novel, I didn't really have any moments of being scared or horrified. The creature doesn't actually get a huge amount of physical description, but instead the focus is largely on how others react to him, which isn't enough to convince me fully of his monstrous appearance. In fact, his eloquence and his story, which forms the core of the novel, make him largely a sympathetic if flawed character.

Interestingly, I ended up feeling somewhat the same way about Victor. In a lot of ways he's responsible for his creation's actions, and he's a serial killer by proxy. However, personally I don't feel that the act of creation itself was sinful or terrible. Victor was prideful, especially in his desire to create a new race that would adore him as humanity adores God, but his discoveries could have lead to miracles of science and powerful changes to the world. No, Frankenstein's mortal sin is not to attempt to play God, but to fail to do so. Where God watches over His creation and protects them, Victor spurns his creation and feels it a horrible abomination unworthy of his or anybody else's love. His decision not to make an Eve for his hideous Adam is not entirely unreasonable, but it and much of the pride he feels throughout the novel are really what lead to his downfall. In many ways Victor is just as much of a tragic figure as his creation is, even if I find son more sympathetic than father.

The plot feels uneven at times, but the section from the creature's point of view is incredibly well done, and cries out for a retelling building upon it to give his view of the entire affair. Thanks to the academic materials I enjoyed Walton's frame narrative more this time, because it ties in to then current scientific issues and more importantly provides a nice parallel to Frankenstein's own quest for knowledge beyond the boundaries of the normal world.

In general, I found that reading various bits of context and a number of interpretations of the text really helped my enjoyment of the novel, and I might well truly like reading it next time I do so. The contextual materials include discussions of how Frankenstein was composed, the question of how much Mary Shelley's husband may have contributed, and the merits of the 1818 versus 1831 texts. I learned some truly fascinating things about how copyright laws and reading habits in the early 19th century shaped the public perception of the novel and its characters forever after, and I had fun seeing what people thought of the novel when it was first released. The literary criticism ranges from the obvious feminist readings of the work to discussions about the race of the monster, films of Frankenstein, and how Mary Shelley was influenced by Jean Jacques Rousseau. I liked some arguments and disagreed with others, but I was provided with plenty of food for thought and plenty of books to look into to learn more. (Even the one about Frankenstein and yellow peril narratives, which sounded like a stretch from the title, seems interesting, though the excerpt is far too short to tell and I'm not sure I can easily get my hands on the full text.)

I have to say, I'm really glad I decided to pick up the Norton Critical Edition of Frankenstein when I decided to reread it thanks to a book club. I've learned a lot of stuff from all the supplementary materials in here, and it's gotten me to enjoy the original book somewhat more. Plus it's just fun to get a taste of what academic writing and exploration is like again, since I've been out of college for a few years now. I'm not about to rush back into academia just because of one book, but this has made me feel a certain amount of nostalgia for it, and I can definitely see myself reading more Norton editions in the future - assuming I'm ready for the resultant dive deep into academic books and other sources from the library, of course. ...more

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Dec 06, 2020 Jeff Waltersdorf rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Heavily annotated version of the 1818 original Frankenstein. Includes a hefty forward, including short biographies of Mary Shelley, her parents (feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and political philosopher William Godwin, both noted authors), husband Percy Shelley, and their friend Lord Byron, useful in putting the story in context. The appendices include discussions of Frankenstein and academia and pop culture, a listing of Frankenstein movies, and a lovely little interview of Mel Brooks (writer and ...more

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Nov 02, 2025 Nick rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I endeavored to finish this finally outside of school and still unfortunately find the book to be too slowly-paced and melodramatic to be much fun or all that interesting. The best parts are good and there are some great quotes, but they're perhaps best read and studied on their own as excerpts. The political and social commentary included is admirable, and you can tell Shelley really loved the European mountains and countryside, which she describes in great detail (almost akin to something like ...more

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