Frankenstein: Everything You Need to Know to Read Mary Shelley's Novel
How A Storytelling Challenge Gave the World One of the Most Influential Novels of All Time
Watch the video: Everything you need to know to read "Frankenstein" - Iseult Gillespie
In 1815, Lord Byron proposed a challenge to a few literary guests he had gathered in his house on Lake Geneva: Who could write the most chilling ghost story? This question sparked an idea in eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley who, over the next few months, crafted the story of “Frankenstein.” In this video, Iseult Gillespie shares everything you need to know to read Mary Shelley’s classic novel.
Part of a series celebrating the many versions of Frankenstein’s Monster
RELATED: [Flashback] Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
1818–Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
It’s crazy to think that one of the most influential and important books in all of western literature was written when the author was still a teenager.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, published in 1818, is a novel full of grief and longing and the struggle with isolation, as well as the hubris of climbing the ladder of science without regard for morality or the ramifications (and responsibility) of unexpected success, Shelley’s “Frankenstein” has survived 200 years of creative adaptations and intellectual discussions. The version of the monster in the original novel is quite different from what we often see in adaptations—he is articulate, conflicted, and actually looks quite different than we’ve been trained to assume.
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was written to meet a challenge to “write a ghost story.” When she and a group of friends gathered at a mansion near Lake Geneva in Switzerland--a gathering that included Lord Byron, the poet Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron’s personal physician, John Polidori--inclement weather forced them to spend their holiday indoors.
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As Mary Shelley and the others tried to make do with being stuck indoors, Percy Shelley suggested they have a contest to see who could write the best ghost story.
When Mary Shelley began work on her story, she was only 18 years old.
The novel Frankenstein has endured because it represents so much to so many. A classic of western literature, a rousing story of terror, a Gothic romance, a tragedy—it is also considered one of the first (if not the first) works of science fiction.
In the more than 200 years since its first publication, the legend of Frankenstein has been recounted, remixed, retread, and rebooted into so many formats. The monster of Frankenstein has been adapted in books, films, television, cartoons, comics, audio dramas, stage productions, theme park attractions, and more.
As the themes of the novel continue to resonate into the future, it will no doubt appear in newer and still-to-be invented formats.