Frankenstein / Mary Shelley | RAC 2017-18

Macdonald and Scherf's edition of Frankenstein has been widely acclaimed as an outstanding edition of the novel--for the general reader and the student as much as for the scholar. The editors use as their copy-text the original 1818 version, and detail in an appendix all of Shelley's later revisions. They also include a range of contemporary documents that shed light on the historical context from which this unique masterpiece emerged.

"Frankenstein" unites the dark side of Barry Moser's art with the classic 1818 text of Mary Shelley's tale of moral transfiguration. In a vivid sequence of woodcuts, the reader witnesses the birth of the "monster" as Moser shapes him from darkness and gives him a form simultaneously ghastly in its malice and transfixing in its suffering.

Victor Frankenstein thinks he has found the secret of life. He takes parts from dead people and builds a new 'man'. But this monster is so big and frightening that everyone runs away from him - even Frankenstein himself! The monster is like an enormous baby who needs love. But nobody gives him love, and soon he learns to hate. And because he is so strong, the next thing he learns is to hate. And because he is so strong, the next thing he learns is how to kill...

The idea for the story came to the author, Mary Shelley, in a dream she had about a scientist who had created life and was horrified by what he had made. This Gothic-style romance is among the first of true science fiction novels, if not the first. A young scientist named Victor Frankenstein, after going through his own near-death experience, decides to play God and create life in the form of a grotesque creature, which turns into a nightmare. Through his experience, he learns that the gift of life is precious, not disposable. His journey and personal transformation has deeply affected readers. Frankenstein is a must-read for any lover of classic literature and science fiction. Lexile score: 1040L

Henry Frankenstein is a doctor who is trying to discover a way to make the dead walk. He succeeds and creates a monster that has to deal with living again.

bsessed with violating the laws of nature and of life and death, scientist Victor Frankenstein constructs a creature from the limbs of the dead. Once jolted into life, the creature proves to be even more human than his creator. He is knowledgeable, wise and also possessed of a conscience. Unable to inspire love, he chooses to inspire fear and vows to avenge himself upon the man who created and then abandoned him.

Based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
Originally produced for television in 1973.
Includes bonus feature.
Cast: James Mason, Leonard Whiting, David McCallum, Jane Seymour, Nicola Pagett, Michael Sarrazin, Michael Wilding, Agnes Moorehead, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud.

Based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
Cast: Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter, Aidan Quinn, Ian Holm, John Cleese.

Based on the character created by Mary W. Shelley.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Elsa Lanchester, Ernest Thesiger, Dwight Frye, O.P. Heggie, Una O'Connor.