Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

by Mary Shelley, The griffin classics

Overview

Frankenstein is the most celebrated horror story ever written and one of the best-selling books of all time. It is the tale of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist whose unbridled quest for the secret of life unleashes a creature that embodies our deepest fears about the moral bounds of human progress. Ever since its publication in 1818, readers have been fascinated with the iconic image of Frankenstein's monster and the unresolved ethical questions his creation challenges us to answer.

At once a cautionary tale and a gripping novel about the destructive potential in human ingenuity and the desperate search for love and attachment, Frankenstein lives on in countless re-imaginings in literature and film.

This Warbler Classics edition uses Shelley's original 1818 text and includes an afterword by Ulrich Baer, Mary Shelley's introduction to the 1831 edition, and a detailed biographical timeline.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782378077273
Publisher:	The griffin classics
Publication date:	10/25/2020
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	226
Sales rank:	1,004,801
File size:	450 KB

About the Author

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was the daughter of philosophers Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin and the wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was eighteen years old when she began Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus and with its publication in 1818 created science fiction as a genre. She went on to write six more novels, many short stories, and numerous articles, but Frankenstein, her masterstroke, remains her best-known work.

Ulrich Baer holds a B.A. from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Yale, and is University Professor at New York University. He has been awarded Guggenheim, Getty, and Alexander von Humboldt fellowships in recognition of his work. Among his books are Rainer Maria Rilke's The Dark Interval, Spectral Evidence: The Photography of Trauma, We Are But a Moment, and What the Snowflakes Get Right.

Read an Excerpt

LETTER I
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Frankenstein: The 1818 Text"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Mary Shelley.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

About the Authors

A Note on the Text

FRANKENSTEIN

­­Afterword

Introduction to Frankenstein, Third Edition (1831)

Biographical Timeline

Editorial Reviews

[Charlotte] Gordon's framing is the real standout of the anniversary edition, but other appendixes include a chronology of events in Shelley's life, an excerpt from her diary, the 1831 text's introduction, and excerpts from [Mary] Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Highly recommended.

The New York Times Book Review - N. K. Jemisin

Gordon’s framing is the real standout of the anniversary edition (…) Highly recommended.”
—N. K. Jemisin, The New York Times Book Review

“Frankenstein is as efficient and resonant a reference today as it was in 1818. . . In this bicentennial year, much will be written about Frankenstein, its adaptations, and whether there exists a definitive or superior version of the novel. . . The 1818 Text is reflective of the thrill and nervous energy that ushered in a new era of science and society. . . But part of what makes it a little unsettling is what makes it so interesting: The chance to watch a 200-year-old novel develop. In a story that's reflected so much of the last two hundred years, and centers so much on choices, storytelling, and the potential for change, it only makes sense that Frankenstein reflects changes within its own creator”
—Genevieve Valentine, NPR

From the Publisher