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It was a dark and dreary night in the summer of 1816, which was not really a summer ...

This is how Frankenstein begins. However, not the story in the book, but the story of the book. On that night, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (then 19 years of age), her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their neighbor, none other than the famous English poet Lord Byron, were discussing the possibility of reanimating a corpse with electricity, thereby giving life to a lifeless subject. This discussion stroke a spark in Mary which eventually brought life to Frankenstein. First, it was only a short story Mary told her family and friends, from which she then worked out the novel, which was published for the first time in 1818 (then anonymously).

Frankenstein is the story of the mad scientist who, driven by ambition and thirst for knowledge, builds a creature composed of body parts, gives life to it, only to leave it to its own devices, disgusted by the abhorrent results of his efforts. A fatal error that all parties must bitterly regret later in the course of the story.

Frankenstein is generally associated with the horror genre. I don't object this classification, but I think it has also elements of many other genres. Adventure and travel, friendship, family and romance, everything is represented. The approach of the scientist (who is referred to in this book as a Natural Philosopher) gives the whole thing a touch of science fiction (although this term probably wasn't invented at that time). Interestingly enough, the author has moved the story to the past, namely to an anonymous year 17__ of the previous century.

The bookends to this story is a kind of letter-diary-narrative of an English adventurer who rescues Frankenstein of death in the Arctic Ocean. In gratitude, Frankenstein tells him his story. This first-person narrative of Frankenstein is the main part of the book. Embedded in this is another first-person narrative from the perspective of the "monster" and in there is a mini family story of people encountered by the monster on his trip. This sounds complicated, but in fact it's not. At least not more than the modern day form of several parallel story lines. I enjoyed this form of narrative a lot. It has something of a Scheherazade story telling to it.

As a non-native speaker I had slight difficulties with the language in the beginning. The novel is, after all, almost two hundred years old and the then English is a lot different from today's. But gradually I was able to overcome these difficulties. The expression is, probably not unusual for the time, mainly naturalistic / romantic, possibly influenced by Lord Byron. Dialogs are rare, and they sound more like monologues. But once you get involved with the thoughts and expressions of the protagonists, at some point, it's fun to dive into the story and swim along. That's one of the objectives when reading novels, is it not?

I'm sure Mary Shelley hasn't meant for her book to be made into film (the first silent movie being 75+ years down the road). Nevertheless there are numerous cinematic versions of this novel. Most of them apparently are way off the original content of the book. I bought the 1994 movie (directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Branagh and Robert de Niro) because it's said that this is the closest one to the book. We'll see. In addition to films there are all kinds of things available. I made a quick search for "Frankenstein" on Amazon and got results in virtually all departments. Books, Films, Music, Clothing, Shoes you name it. Even in the Baby department I found a "Funny Frankenstein Infant Bodysuit". If this isn't an indication of how influential this story has become, I don't know what is.

This book surly is part of important world literature that every serious reader should read at least once.

PS The subtitle "The Modern Prometheus" opened the gate to many thoughts I have about the underlying meaning of the story. Seldom I jotted down so many notes while reading a book. But to elaborate on this would be more like writing an interpretation and not a review.


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