The definitive, annotated edition of Mary Shelley's classic novel.

Working from the earliest surviving draft of Frankenstein, Charles E. Robinson presents two versions of the classic novel—as Mary Shelley originally wrote it and a subsequent version clearly indicating Percy Shelley’s amendments and contributions. For the first time we can hear Mary’s sole voice, which is colloquial, fast-paced, and sounds more modern to a contemporary reader. We can also see for the first time the extent of Percy Shelley’s contribution—some 5,000 words out of 72,000—and his stylistic and thematic changes. His occasionally florid prose is in marked contrast to the directness of Mary’s writing. Interesting, too, are Percy’s suggestions, which humanize the monster, thus shaping many of the major themes of the novel as we read it today. In these two versions of Frankenstein we have an exciting new view of one of literature’ s greatest works.

This deluxe ebook package features Mary Shelley’s classic gothic novel plus an extended excerpt of award winning author Kenneth Oppel’s thrilling prequel, This Dark Endeavor! What happens when an obsession defies your control? Victor Frankenstein has long sought the answer to creating new life. When he finally achieves his goal, he’s horrified by the results and abandons his creation, ready to forget what he’s done. But when tragedy befalls his family, Victor returns home to discover his creation is hiding nearby. To save his family from further despair, Frankenstein’s creature asks him to do the one thing he swore he never would do again. Mary Shelley’s novel explores with chilling dimensions the questions that reside at our core. What is the fabric of life and the soul? Where are the limits of our imagination? Can man’s reach shatter the boundaries between science, nature and God?

Two centuries after its original publication, Mary Shelley’s classic tale of gothic horror comes to vivid life in "what may very well be the best presentation of the novel" to date (Guillermo del Toro). "Remarkably, a nineteen-year-old, writing her first novel, penned a tale that combines tragedy, morality, social commentary, and a thoughtful examination of the very nature of knowledge," writes best-selling author Leslie S. Klinger in his foreword to The New Annotated Frankenstein. Despite its undeniable status as one of the most influential works of fiction ever written, Mary Shelley’s novel is often reductively dismissed as the wellspring for tacky monster films or as a cautionary tale about experimental science gone haywire. Now, two centuries after the first publication of Frankenstein, Klinger revives Shelley’s gothic masterpiece by reproducing her original text with the most lavishly illustrated and comprehensively annotated edition to date. Featuring over 200 illustrations and nearly 1,000 annotations, this sumptuous volume recaptures Shelley’s early nineteenth-century world with historical precision and imaginative breadth, tracing the social and political roots of the author’s revolutionary brand of Romanticism. Braiding together decades of scholarship with his own keen insights, Klinger recounts Frankenstein’s indelible contributions to the realms of science fiction, feminist theory, and modern intellectual history—not to mention film history and popular culture. The result of Klinger’s exhaustive research is a multifaceted portrait of one of Western literature’s most divinely gifted prodigies, a young novelist who defied her era’s restrictions on female ambitions by independently supporting herself and her children as a writer and editor. Born in a world of men in the midst of a political and an emerging industrial revolution, Shelley crafted a horror story that, beyond its incisive commentary on her own milieu, is widely recognized as the first work of science fiction. The daughter of a pioneering feminist and an Enlightenment philosopher, Shelley lived and wrote at the center of British Romanticism, the “exuberant, young movement” that rebelled against tradition and reason and "with a rebellious scream gave birth to a world of gods and monsters" (del Toro). Following his best-selling The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft and The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Klinger not only considers Shelley’s original 1818 text but, for the first time in any annotated volume, traces the effects of her significant revisions in the 1823 and 1831 editions. With an afterword by renowned literary scholar Anne K. Mellor, The New Annotated Frankenstein celebrates the prescient genius and undying legacy of the world’s "first truly modern myth." The New Annotated Frankenstein includes: Nearly 1,000 notes that provide information and historical context on every aspect of Frankenstein and of Mary Shelley’s life Over 200 illustrations, including original artwork from the 1831 edition and dozens of photographs of real-world locations that appear in the novel Extensive listings of films and theatrical adaptations An introduction by Guillermo del Toro and an afterword by Anne K. Mellor

The monster known as Frankenstein has been haunting humankind's nightmares for nearly 200 years. This book takes readers on a journey through this creature's horrifying history. From his literary birth in 1818 to his reanimation in countless movies, plays, TV shows, novelizations, and various pop-culture phenomena, author Mary Shelley's creation has proved his continuing ability to appall and entertain the public. In the process, he has earned a spot on any list of historyÃ*s most notorious monsters.

An introduction to the history and pop culture significance of Mary Shelley's ghoulish monster and his mad scientist creator.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is arguably the best known work of the English Romantic period. First published in 1996, this edition of The Frankenstein Notebooks contains not only facsimiles and transcriptions of all of the surviving manuscripts related to the novel and a corrected, critical text of Frankenstein (or The Modern Prometheus) but also a full range of factual information, drawn from Shelley’s and William Godwin’s letters and journals, from newspaper ads of the day, and from other available scholarship about the conception, gestation, and birth of Mary Shelley’s monster. This two volume set contains a wealth of information vital to the creation and reception of Frankenstein. It will enable scholars, critics and students to see for themselves the exact extent of P. B. Shelley’s editorial contributions and trace the artistic and ideological development of the novel at various stages in its formation. It will also enable the reader to explore the text itself to test and evaluate their own theses. This set will be of keen interest to those studying Frankenstein, the Romantics and 19th century literature.

This lively history of the Frankenstein myth, illuminated by dozens of pictures and illustrations, is told with skill and humor. Hitchcock uses film, literature, history, science, and even punk music to help readers understand the meaning of this monster made by man.

A guide to British women authors, their works, and the writing about them.