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175 pages.
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Primary Edition
BookMary Shelley - Frankenstein - Pyramid Royal - Paperback - USA (1957)
Comments and Reviews
| Terence Archer 24th Jan 2018 | Alternative front and rear covers added. Cover illustration "Tintern Abbey by Moonlight" by John Sell Cotman(1782-1842). New introduction and notes added 1999. | |
| Magic Marmalade 15th Sep 2017 | Ashamed to say that all this record collecting business has meant that I haven't read a book in almost two years! ...so I got a little carried away once I picked one up again at last, and had to tell you all about it. (To my surprise, I'm a considerably quicker reader than I used to be). | |
| zabadak 15th Sep 2017 | Size isn't everything Lee! Usually, but not always! :erk: | |
| Lee Wrecker 15th Sep 2017 | Yes, zabadak, Magic's review is actually longer than the book. I held a copy of the book up against the screen and Magic's review is in fact about 9cm longer. So, no wonder you haven't finished it yet. | |
| zabadak 14th Sep 2017 | The book. Not completed your review yet... :erk: | |
| Magic Marmalade 13th Sep 2017 | What... the book, or my review? :) | |
| zabadak 13th Sep 2017 | Took me ages to wade through! :erk: | |
| Magic Marmalade 13th Sep 2017 | ReviewIt never fails to amaze me... ... how different these classic tales are in the reading, than what you think you know about them, as gleaned from the filmed versions, and even literary discussions on arty programmes and such. This, for instance, leaves a very different impression in the mind than the sight of Mr Squarehead - bolt neck - Karloff, or those Hammer productions with Christopher Lee lumbering around as a monolithic, mute, and intellectually impaired American quilt of human bits 'n' bobs in some loose arrangement of anatomy would make of it. No, this is a very different creature than such liberties and licence over the intervening years since it's publication have created in the mind of popular culture. In fact, the first thing that struck me, and which even the notes by scholars here (and subsequent moseying around he net at other opinions) have failed to draw attention to, is that there is very, very little by way of detailed descriptions of persons, processes, or places in it. Indeed, the only thing said about the creation of "the creature" is that Victor Frankenstein gives him "The spark of life" - and hey-presto, the creature is born. No bubbling test-tubes, no grand mechanisms, lightning, castles, angry, torch bearing villagers, no grave robbing, stitching of pieces or even the source of the components that go to make him. No, the only thing we are told is that Victor discovers the secret to giving life... and Shelley makes a particular point of not saying how he does it (the point of the book, is not to follow his folly, and so he tells Walton; A man on a similar scientific expedition who finds Victor pursuing the creature through the northern Ice cap in order to destroy it; that hill will not tell him that secret, but simply relates his tale to warn him off his endeavour. The structure of the book is a bit of a Russian doll of narratives, opening with Walton sending letters home to his sister Margaret, relating how he found Frankenstein, and in these, he relates Victor's narrative, who in turn relates the creature's narrative, as told to him (yes, the creature speaks, and in fact, is articulate, eloquent, philosophical, and highly intelligent). And perhaps this is the power of the book on the imagination, which subsequent film-makers have learned... that the less you describe, the more you allow the reader / viewer's imagination to make the horror for themselves (like Ridley Scott's: Alien)... (There's barely enough description of protagonists to fill a paragraph, in terms of concrete facts) ...And in fact he only descriptions we are afforded of the creature, over and above judgemental characterisations of him as a "demon", "hideous" etc. Is that he has a watery-yellow eye (conspicuously, this reference is very closely followed by reference to the moon... ((The sun and moon are very strong symbols in the this book, from what I gleaned)) ...and that he is eight feet tall, with "flowing black hair", and moves with superhuman strength, speed and agility (Have a look at Lord Byron - could he be a source of inspiration for this creature?). In fact, the very strong impression grew in my mind of an alternative theory about the story than those I've found elsewhere... that "The Creature" is not a physical entity within the story at all, but is Victor Frankenstein's psychosis, that he is the killer and the monster in this work, and that the creature is a split element of his own personality - his own murderous ambition, against which he is struggling, and which may well be the Hyde to his Jekyll that he cannot contain. For it seemed to me that there are many very suggestive clues all through the book which point to this, including the creature's narrative (later related) having taken place at exactly the time, early in he book, after he is created, where Victor spends months wandering, delirious, and semi-conscious.... and the general Superman thing, where neither seems to be where the other is, in the sight of others, at the same time. Victor Frankenstein is the creature... the creature is his own split personality? This is only a very short book in fact (How penguin and the like stretch this out into hundreds of pages in their editions is beyond me), as once you take all the introductions, out, it probably boils down to only 150 pages or so, and it only took me two days last week, so it can be gotten through easy enough. Great read though, another one to finally tick off the list! 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review? | |
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See Also
BookMary Shelley - Frankenstein - Barnes & Noble - Paperback - USA - 1593080050 (2003)Next by Author
BookMary Shelley - Frankenstein - W. W. Norton & Company - Paperback - USA - 0393964582 (1996)Previous by Author
BookArthur Conan Doyle - The Hound Of The Baskervilles & The Valley Of Fear - Wordsworth Classics - Paperback - UK - 9781840224009 (1999)Next by Publisher
BookM. R. James - Collected Ghost Stories - Wordsworth Classics - Paperback - UK - 1853260533 (1992)Previous by Publisher
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Vinyl Albums : Live Music : 78 RPM : CD Albums : CD Singles : 12" Singles : 7" Singles : Tape Media : Classical Music : Music Memorabilia : Cinema : TV Series : DVD & Blu-ray : Magazines : Books : Video Games : Create Your Own World
Latest » Items : Comments : Price Guide : Reviews : Ratings : Images : Lists : Videos : Tags : Collected : Wanted : Top 50 : Random
45worlds for music, movies, books etc : 45cat for 7" singles : 45spaces for hundreds more worlds