Frankenstein: The 1818 Edition with Related Texts

In this new edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, David Wootton's Introduction gives the reader both a clear and gripping account of the biographical circumstances that led to the novels writing and the most striking and original interpretations of its central themes and of the intellectual and cultural influences on them. Offering a new account of the complex history of its composition, and drawing upon his deep knowledge of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scientific debates, Wootton reveals the ways in which the origins of Shelleys novel are inextricably linked to conceptions of the origins of life itself. We have here a transformative reading of one of the worlds best-known stories.
Laura Marcus, Goldsmiths Professor of English Literature and Fellow of New College, University of Oxford See more