A masterpiece of nineteenth-century Gothic horror, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein also has the distinction of being the first science-fiction novel. Dr. Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious young scientist, is consumed by a fanatic desire to create a living being. He fashions an eight-foot creature and succeeds in animating him but, horrified by his visage, perceives his creation to be a monster and frightens him away. The monster, wandering in search of human companionship, is spurned and repulsed by all he approaches and learns to hate and to kill. He confronts his maker with a terrible choice: unless Frankenstein creates for him a mate, he will go on a rampage of destruction.A subversive tale about the corrupt tendencies in humanity's most "civilized" ambitions, this haunting thriller maintains its hold in the collective imagination centuries after its first publication.
Dr. Frankenstein learns the secret of imparting life to inanimate matter. To test his theories, he collects bones from the charnel-houses to construct a "human" being, and then gives it life. The creature, endowed with supernatural size and strength, is revolting to look at, and frightens all who see it. Lonely and miserable, it comes to hate its creator. The monster murders Frankenstein's brother and his bride, and flees. The doctor pursues his creation in order to destroy it, but dies himself in the attempt.
The story of Frankenstein was first written as a ghost story to be told as part of a contest between Mary Shelley, her husband, and Lord Byron. This tale of terror has been a world favorite since it was first published in 1818, and has been made into countless movies.
One of the greatest classic horror stories, Mary Shelley's Gothic novel sees Dr Frankenstein manufacture life - The Monster - only to see it go beyond his control. The original novel is more sympathetic to the monster's plight than is generally presented on film, making it an important book to be read. This abridged version with music is an ideal introduction to teenagers, making it a key release in the first year of Naxos AudioBooks' new series 'Young Adult Classics'. Comes with an embedded CD-ROM containing A Study Guide and both the abridged and unabridged text.
Victor Frankenstein was a brilliant and driven scientist with a passion for discovering the way the world worked. In a fit of madness, Frankenstein perfects a method for reanimating dead tissue, and uses it to form a creature. Terrified by his own creation, he is forced to face the consequences of creating a being with superhuman powers and a desperate need to be loved. Used countless times in movies, television, radio, cartoons, and more, Frankenstein is a wonderful morality tale that has established itself as one of the most well-known novels in the English language.
At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein, whose obsession with discovering "the cause of generation and life" leads him to assemble a human being from stolen body parts.
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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of the masterpieces of nineteenth-century Gothicism. While stay-ing in the Swiss Alps in 1816 with her lover Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and others, Mary, then eighteen, began to concoct the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the monster he brings to life by electricity. Written in a time of great personal tragedy, it is a subversive and morbid story warning against the dehumanization of art and the corrupting influence of science. Packed with allusions and literary references, it is also one of the best thrillers ever written. Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus was an instant bestseller on publication in 1818. The prototype of the science fiction novel, it has spawned countless imitations and adaptations but retains its original power.
This Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by Wendy Steiner, the chair of the English department at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Scandal of Pleasure.
Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in 1797 in London. She eloped to France with Shelley, whom she married in 1816. After Frankenstein, she wrote several novels, including Valperga and Falkner, and edited editions of the poetry of Shelley, who had died in 1822. Mary Shelley died in London in 1851.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a novel written by the British author Mary Shelley. The title of the novel refers to a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of man, but larger than average and more powerful. In popular culture, people have tended to refer to the Creature as "Frankenstein", despite this being the name of the scientist. Frankenstein is a novel infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the "over-reaching" of modern man and the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. It is arguably considered the first fully realized science fiction novel.
Kenneth Branagh, director and star of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, provides one of the most spectacular spoken audio performances ever recorded in this electrifying audio adaptation of Mary Shelley's masterpiece.
One of the greatest horror stories ever written, Frankenstein comes to spellbinding life once again this tour-de-force performance by the acclaimed director and star of Henry V, Dead Again, and Much Ado About Nothing. The definitive recording of one of the most haunting tales of all time, Kenneth Branagh's performance of Frankenstein is a true audio classic.
In the frozen wastes north of Russia, a lone seaward vessel seeks the elusive Northwest Passage. Suddenly they sight a dog sled with a gargantuan figure in the shape of a man, driving the dogs northward to sure oblivion. The following day, they find another sled. This sled is filled with a European near death, and when asked what he is chasing, he simply replies, "to seek one who fled from me."
Penguin Classics presents Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by the actor Richard Pasco.
'Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face, of such loathsome, yet appalling hideousness'
A twisted, upside-down creation myth, Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale lays bare the dark side of science, and the horror within us all. It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, who plunders graveyards to create a new being from the bodies of the dead - but whose botched creature causes nothing but murder and destruction.
Written after a nightmare when its author was only eighteen, Frankenstein gave birth to the modern science fiction novel.
Part of a series of vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives. Affordable, collectable, quality productions - perfect for on-the-go listening.
This chilling tale of a gruesome monster unleashed into the world by an unthinking scientist was first conceived in 1818 by nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley on a dark, rainy night on Lake Geneva. Lord Byron and Percy Shelley challenged their friends to see who could come up with the most horrifying story imaginable. Mary Shelley did, terrifying them all with her nightmare-inspired tale.
Brilliantly narrated by British actor Clive Hayward, this 200th anniversary audio edition of Frankenstein is followed by The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge which had a haunting influence on young Mary Shelley many years before the story of Frankenstein entered her dreams. With commentary on Shelley's feminist roots by Alison Larkin.
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