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With a new introduction by Francine Prose and stunning original artwork by Eko, the Restless Classics edition of Frankenstein brings Mary Shelley's paragon of horror vividly back to life - published to coincide with the two-hundredth anniversary of the infamous night of its creation.
A towering masterpiece of gothic fiction, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus birthed the horror and science-fiction genres and spawned countless cultural offspring. Amid the pervasive images of Boris Karloff's flat-headed, bolt-necked monster, it's easy to forget how radical, insightful - and, yes, terrifying - the book is on its own terms.
The would-be Prometheus of the book's title is the brilliant Swiss scientist Victor Frankenstein, whose studies in natural philosophy and chemistry (fields much brooded over in Shelley's day) lead him to become obsessed with building a being out of dead body parts and bringing it to life. But when he is miraculously successful, Victor is horrified at his creation, and the monster escapes into the night. Given life and enough reason to deduce his own terrible loneliness, Frankenstein's creation turns to violence and, soon enough, vengeance upon his creator.
Frankenstein is the second book in the Restless Classics series: interactive encounters with great books and inspired teachers. Find out more at www.restlessbooks.com/classics
A towering masterpiece of gothic fiction, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus birthed the horror and science-fiction genres and spawned countless cultural offspring. Amid the pervasive images of Boris Karloff's flat-headed, bolt-necked monster, it's easy to forget how radical, insightful - and, yes, terrifying - the book is on its own terms.
The would-be Prometheus of the book's title is the brilliant Swiss scientist Victor Frankenstein, whose studies in natural philosophy and chemistry (fields much brooded over in Shelley's day) lead him to become obsessed with building a being out of dead body parts and bringing it to life. But when he is miraculously successful, Victor is horrified at his creation, and the monster escapes into the night. Given life and enough reason to deduce his own terrible loneliness, Frankenstein's creation turns to violence and, soon enough, vengeance upon his creator.
Frankenstein is the second book in the Restless Classics series: interactive encounters with great books and inspired teachers. Find out more at www.restlessbooks.com/classics
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Reviews
"Stunning original artwork by acclaimed Mexican artist Eko . . . In her insightful introduction, Prose paves the way into the depths of Mary Shelley's original horror story, by recreating the journey which led to the birth of one of history's greatest monsters . . . The new anniversary edition of Frankenstein is a beautiful example of remaking a novel for the 21st century. While remaining true to
Jade Fell, Engineering & Technology Magazine
"Restless Books has just released a new edition of the original 1818 version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The 1818 version is, to my mind, far superior to the 1831 revision - which omits the Paradise Lost epigraph and many of the other details . . . The Restless edition includes an introduction by Francine Prose and is accompanied by several videos (available online) by University of Pennsylvan
Chadwick Jenkins, PopMatters
"Two-hundred-years after that rained-out vacation, the work is often celebrated as the first science-fiction novel . . . 'I think that people are always going to have a certain amount of anxiety, and some of it is very well founded, about scientific process,' says writer and Bard College literature professor Francine Prose, who wrote the introduction for a newly illustrated anniversary edition of
Ryan Porter, Toronto Star