Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.7
EAN: 9780321399533
ISBN: 0321399536
Label: Longman
Manufacturer: Longman
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: 2006-07-10
Publisher: Longman
Studio: Longman

From the Longman Cultural Editions series, this second edition of Frankenstein presents Mary Shelley's remarkable novel in several provocative and illuminating contexts: cultural, critical, and literary.

 

Series Editor Susan J. Wolfson presents the 1818 version of Mary Shelley's famous novel in its cultural and historical contexts. Like all great works of fiction, Frankenstein gains depth and dimension from its "conversation" with contemporary texts, especially those by Shelley's own parents, husband, and friends.  A lively introduction is complemented by a chronology coordinating Shelley's life with key historical events and a speculative calendar of the novel's events in the late eighteenth century.  In addition to the 1818 text, this cultural edition features the introduction to and a sample revision of the 1831 version. New to this Edition is Frankentalk, a section of selected references to Frankenstein in the popular press, and the complete text of Richard Brinsley Peake’s Frankenstein, A Romantic Drama, the first stage version of Frankenstein.

 

Fans of Science Fiction and Gothic Literature. 

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great novel, good editing, terrible typography
Comment: Frankenstein is a great work, though one that has consistently been underrated and misrepresented. Frankenstein is, in the words of Donald H. Reiman, "the most seminal literary work of the Romantic period". In my opinion, it is a work of profound and radical ideas, written in poetically powerful prose. Frankenstein is not really a gothic novel, although its author sometimes employs gothic conventions and language, and even spoofs them. Rather, Frankenstein is an enduring myth, a novel of ideas, and above all, a moral allegory about the evil effects of intolerance and prejudice, ostracism and alienation, both to the victims of intolerance and to society at large.
I'll concentrate on thisparticular edition -- the Longman edition edited by Susan J. Wolfson. Most importantly, this is the original 1818 edition, rather than the inferior, bowdlerized 1831 edition -- which is the most common, and the only one that was available for well over a century. Unfortunately, this edition can not be recommended owing to the typeface, Bodoni, which makes the text hard to read and makes it difficult to concentrate. Bodoni can sometimes be effective as a display typeface, but it is never appropriate for extended text. This is too bad, as there is some good material in the back. The best editions of the 1818 text are those edited by James Rieger (Chicago) or by J. Paul Hunter (Norton).
Please check out my own book, The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein, which makes the case that Frankenstein was really written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the greatest poets in the English language. I also argue that male love, both idealized and demonized, is a central theme of Frankenstein.
Five stars for Frankenstein, three stars for this edition.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: the best edition there is
Comment: This is a really fine, helpful edition of one of the greatest novels of all time, edited by one of the greatest American scholars in her field. A wonderful edition, ideal for classroom use.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Frankenstein plus writings contemporaneous of the novel
Comment: Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley's "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" is a major novel in Western Civilization. I always think of it as representing the paradigm shift from religion to science, embodied in the contrast with the myth of Faust with the story of Victor Frankenstein. The crucial question in this novel is simply which is Frankenstein's createst sin, bringing the creature to life or abandoning it once he had done so. However, this review is not really about Shelley's novel, because if you are a teacher you have already decided whether or not you want to use the novel in your class. The question here is what value this Longman Cultural Edition would have over a regular edition of "Frankenstein."

This Longman Critical Edition includes Shelley's introduction to the 1831 edition and a revision of the section of the novel dealing with the adoption of Elizabeth. There are three main sections to the Contexts part of this volume. First, Monsters, Visionaries, and Mary Shelley puts the novel in the context of what her contemporaries were writing and talking about. Consequently there are other writings of Shelley along with Edmund Burke, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, among others. There are also some descriptions from Richard Brinsley Peake's dramatic adaptation of the novel and even Dr. Spock's chapter "Enjoy Your Baby" from his famous book (interesting choice, you must admit). Second, Milton's Satan and Romantic Imaginations looks at both Milton and the Bible, as well as additional writings from Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Third, What the Reviews Said all dealing with commentaries written between 1818 and 1832.

What this should make quite clear to you is that this Longman Cultural Edition relies mainly on what I would consider primary documents the vast majority of which are contemporarneous with the writing of Shelley's novel. This is a synchronic rather than a diachronic perspective, which is of more value to a class that is considering "Frankenstein" in the context of the time and place in which it was written (i.e., 19th century gothic novels rather than horror literature through the ages). Susan J. Wolfson has edited a volume that will help readers understand the world in which Shelley wrote her classic novel. If doing so is important to your class, or is a perspective you enjoy exploring, this edition of "Frankenstein" will certainly fit your needs.

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