LibGuides: Frankenstein: Home

Read It

Go to A-Z Databases: eBooks to search for more eBooks.

Want more on finding books or eBooks? Try our How to Use Books & eBooks guides.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley If you love a good story, then look no further. Oxford Children's Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They're books to treasure and return to again and again.Scientist Victor Frankenstein, is determined to create intelligent life. He works night and day on his experiment until at last he succeeds. Only then does he realize that what he has created is a monster. Abandoned by its maker and rejected by everyone it meets, the monster sets out to destroy Frankenstein and everything he holds dear.
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, was completed by Mary Shelley at the age of 19. She infused this original novel with Gothic and Romantic elements. Scientist Victor Frankenstein creates a large and powerful creature in the likeness of man, but is disgusted by his own creation and he abandons the being to fend for itself. Spawning generations of horror stories in the genre, Frankenstein is a gruesome warning against playing God and attempting the engineering of life.
Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley Frankenstein is the most famous novel by Mary Shelley: a dark Faustian parable of science misused that was an immediate success on its publication in 1818. Purporting to be the record of an explorer, it tells of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but wayward student of science, who builds a human from dead flesh. Horrified by what he has done, he abandons his creation. The creature, an outcast for his horrific appearance, learns language and becomes civilized. In time, he attempts to join society but is rejected because he is assumed to have murderous intentions. Spurned, he seeks vengeance on his creator. So begins a cycle of destruction, with Frankenstein and his "monster" pursuing each other to the extremes of nature until all vestiges of their humanity are lost in monomaniacal hatred. In 1831, Mary Shelley succumbed to conservative pressure and toned down the more radical elements of the work. The novel is here presented in its original, unexpurgated form.

Get an Overview

Get an overview from COM Library databases. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

Featured Books & eBooks

Go to A-Z Databases: eBooks to search for more eBooks.

Want more on finding books or eBooks? Try our How to Use Books & eBooks guides.

Bioethics in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein When mad scientist Victor Frankenstein defies the laws of nature to generate human life, he quickly finds himself appalled by his creation and abandons it. Frankenstein's monster, now sentient, must come to terms with his alienness in a world that despises him. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has remained a classic literary tale for its brilliant reconciliation of modern science and the age-old cautionary tale. This compelling book offers readers a collection of seventeen essays on the role that bioethics plays in Frankenstein. The book also covers Shelley's life and work, her knowledge of science and the sources she drew from, how the novel taps into our bioethical desires and fears, and a discussion of contemporary issues such as legalizing the sale of body parts and lifting the barriers to stem cell research.
The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley Known from her day to ours as 'the Author of Frankenstein', Mary Shelley indeed created one of the central myths of modernity. But she went on to survive all manner of upheaval - personal, political, and professional - and to produce an oeuvre of bracing intelligence and wide cultural sweep. The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley helps readers to assess for themselves her remarkable body of work. In clear, accessible essays, a distinguished group of scholars place Shelley's works in several historical and aesthetic contexts: literary history, the legacies of her parents William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, and of course the life and afterlife, in cinema, robotics and hypertext, of Frankenstein. Other topics covered include Mary Shelley as a biographer and cultural critic, as the first editor of Percy Shelley's works, and as travel writer. This invaluable volume is complemented by a chronology, a guide to further reading and a select filmography.
Critical Insights: Mary Shelley Best known as the author of the ubiquitous Gothic novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Mary Shelley lived an eventful, though grief-stricken life, between troubled finances, her father's disownment, and the death of multiple children. Topics discussed in this compilation include autobiographical elements and themes in her work, the influence of Frankenstein today, and her relationship with her husband, Romantic poet-philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Cyberculture, Cyborgs and Science Fiction (Snow Crasher)
See Chapter 5: Frankenstein: The Monster’s Constructedness and the Narrativity of Consciousness
Frankenstein James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) spawned a phenomenon that has been rooted in world culture for decades. This cinematic Prometheus has generated countless sequels, remakes, rip-offs, and parodies in every media, and this granddaddy of cult movies constantly renews its followers in each generation. Along with an in-depth critical reading of the original 1931 film, this book tracks Frankenstein the monster's heavy cultural tread from Mary Shelley's source novel to today's Internet chat rooms.
Frankenstein: A Cultural History Frankenstein began as the nightmare of an unwed teenage mother in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1816. At a time when the moral universe was shifting and advances in scientific knowledge promised humans dominion over that which had been God's alone, Mary Shelley envisioned a story of human presumption and its misbegotten consequences. Two centuries later, that story is still constantly retold and reinterpreted, from Halloween cartoons to ominous allusions in the public debate, capturing and conveying meaning central to our consciousness today and our concerns for tomorrow. From Victorian musical theater to Boris Karloff with neck bolts, to invocations at the President's Council on Bioethics, the monster and his myth have inspired everyone from cultural critics to comic book addicts. This is a lively and eclectic cultural history, illuminated with dozens of pictures and illustrations, and told with skill and humor. Susan Tyler Hitchcock uses film, literature, history, science, and even punk music to help us understand the meaning of this monster made by man.
Frankenstein: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives by Mary Shelley This revision of a widely adopted critical edition presents the 1831 text of Mary Shelley's English Romantic novel along with critical essays that introduce students to Frankenstein from contemporary psychoanalytic, Marxist, feminist, gender, and cultural studies perspectives. An additional essay demonstrates how various critical perspectives can be combined. In the second edition, 3 of the 6 essays are new. The text and essays are complemented by contextual documents, introductions (with bibliographies), and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Presents concise, easy-to-understand biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on a specific literary work -- Provides multiple sources for book reports and term papers with a wealth of information on literary works, authors, and major characters -- Digests of critical extracts prefaced by headnotes
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Presents the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from The Odyssey through modern literature -- The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism -- Contains critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein Places Mary Shelley's revolutionary novel in its political, philosophical and literary context.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein, a story she wrote at the age of 19, is still a popular tale to this day, remarkable not only for its striking plot but also its Romantic elements. Other works of Shelley are also examined in this collection of critical essays. This addition to the Bloom's Modern Critical Views series includes a chronology, bibliography, notes on the contributors, and an introduction by Harold Bloom.
Novels for Students Vol 1: Frankenstein This volume contains easily accessible and context-rich discussions of the literary and historical significance of 15 works from various cultures and times. Includes Frankenstein.
Novels for Students Vol 37: Frankenstein
Remaking the Frankenstein Myth on Film Explores how filmmakers and screenwriters have used comedy and science fiction to extend the boundaries of the Frankenstein narrative.

Featured Articles

Try these articles to get started. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

Want more on finding articles? Try How to Find Articles. a

Featured Streaming Media

Try these videos to get started. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

Want more on finding media? Try Articles & Media.

Frankenstein (45:00) Frankenstein: the doctor who created life! Was the famed character conceived solely in the mind of novelist Mary Shelley, or was Dr. Frankenstein based in reality, as some argue? This episode of Ancient Mysteries explores Shelley’s possible influences. Had she learned of the 18th-century German doctor who experimented on dead as well as live bodies, or was her inspiration the Britisher Andrew Crosse, who claimed to use electricity to create life? A&E Television Networks.
BBC Mary Shelley: The Birth of Frankenstein (59:57) Her father was philosopher William Godwin. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was feminism’s founder. By pedigree and experience, Mary Shelley was uncannily equipped to write the gothic masterpiece Frankenstein. This program offers a fresh exploration of her novel, focusing on how Shelley’s personal life influenced the book and mirrored it afterwards. Along with reenactments of scenes from her classic and dramatizations of her life, the program draws from a wealth of primary sources, including readings from her mother’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Mary Shelley’s personal letters, as well as those of her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and of Lord Byron.