Mary Shelley's deceptively simple story of Victor Frankenstein and the creature he brings to life, first published in 1818, is now more widely read than any other work of the Romantic period. From the creature's creation to his wild lament over the dead body of his creator in the Arctic wastes, the story retains its narrative hold on the reader even as it spins off ideas in rich profusion. New to this edition is a discussion of Percy Shelley's role in contributing to the first draft of the novel. Recent scholarship has clarified the degree to which Percy Shelley edited, modified, and added to Mary Shelley's original text, and this edition's note on the text discusses this scholarship, as well as the controversy over whether Percy Shelley should be considered a co-author of the work.
Mary Shelley's deceptively simple story of Victor Frankenstein and the creature he brings to life, first published in 1818, is now more widely read than any other work of the Romantic period. From the creature's creation to his wild lament over the dead body of his creator in the Arctic wastes, the story retains its narrative hold on the reader even as it spins off ideas in rich profusion. New to this edition is a discussion of Percy Shelley's role in contributing to the first draft of the novel. Recent scholarship has clarified the degree to which Percy Shelley edited, modified, and added to Mary Shelley's original text, and this edition's note on the text discusses this scholarship, as well as the controversy over whether Percy Shelley should be considered a co-author of the work.
The late D.L. Macdonald was Professor of English at the University of Calgary.Kathleen Scherf is Professor of Communications at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia. They co-edited the Broadview Editions of Mary Wollstonecraft’s The Vindications, Matthew Gregory Lewis’s The Monk, and John Polidori’s The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold.
“This is the best, the most thoughtful advanced school edition of
Frankenstein ever done. The text is well-edited, the introduction
is thorough, and the collection of contextual documents could
hardly be improved.” - Jerome McGann, University of Virginia
“Superb. The introduction and appendices are particularly valuable
… accessible and illuminating.” - Bernard Hirsch, University of
Kansas
“I have taught Frankenstein before, but this edition, with its
compact, thoughtfully chosen, pedagogically helpful, and scholarly
auxiliaries to the text of the novel, has renewed my excitement
about teaching it again. The novel itself awakens interest in the
students, but the introductions and appendices compel their respect
for scholarly work and offer many creative ways to go about it.” -
Randall VanderMey, Westmont College
“As an Associate Editor of the many-volumed Cornell Wordsworth
Series, I have been dealing with editorial issues for the last
forty years. The third edition of Broadview’s Frankenstein is one
of the best classroom editions (of any book) that I have seen. It
is extraordinarily sensitive to textual issues, and it resists the
temptation to simplify complex matters; the book instead helps
students to understand the various complications and why they are
important. The supplementary materials are just what an instructor
needs to set Frankenstein in its context and to promote informed
student discussion of the novel’s central themes.” - Jim Butler, La
Salle University
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