Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

This free app allows you to both read and listen to the classic work of Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley - Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by English author, Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley, with the first edition published anonymously on 1st January 1818, in London by Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, when she was twenty years old. The first edition was published as a three-volume novel, or sometimes known as triple decker, which was a standard form of publishing first editions in Britain during nineteenth century. The second English edition was published on 11th August 1823 by G. and W. B. Whittaker in two volumes. Years later, Henry Colbum & Richard Bentley published the one volume edition on 31st October 1831.

Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley is the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, an English writer herself, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights, who died shortly after giving birth to her. Her father, William Godwin, was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. Her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, was a Romantic poet and philosopher who died in 1822 at the age of twenty nine.

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus novel or popularly known just as Frankenstein, is a story of a young scientist named Victor Frankenstein who used unconventional scientific experiments and successfully created a creature by imparting life to non-living matter. After the creation of the creature, Victor Frankenstein himself would later be horrified by what he had made. Although the novel is of Gothic horror genre, it is also considered as the first true science fiction by some.

The creature created by Victor Frankenstein is referred to as Frankenstein’s monster but is often incorrectly referred to, simply as Frankenstein. Soon, Frankenstein is thought to be the name of the creature rather than of its creator – Victor Frankenstein. The novel of Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley - Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, would later inspire many plays, films, television programs, video games and derivative works in years to come with hundreds of productions using Frankenstein’s monster as the centre of the story line. Frankenstein’s monster remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction.

Source credit:
Ebook: Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84)
Audiobook: Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20038)
Image: Etienne Marais from Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/photos/eery-fear-stalk-frankenstein-1648250/)