Frankenstein (Broadview Edition) » (2nd Edition)

Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on August 30, 1797 in London, the daughter of William Godwin—a radical philosopher and novelist, and Mary Wollstonecraft—a renowned feminist and the author of Vindication of the Rights of Woman. She eloped to France with Shelley in 1814, although they were not married until 1816, after the suicide of his first wife. She began work on Frankenstein in 1816 in Switzerland, while they were staying with Lord Byron, and it was published in 1818 to immediate acclaim. She died in London in 1851.

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—and more widely discussed by scholars—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.

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. Macdonald and Scherf have now revised and updated their introduction, notes and bibliography, and have added new documents (including a review of Frankenstein by Percy Shelley).

Comments:

"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

"Far better than any [other edition] on the market today"—Craig Keating, Langara College

James Hynes

. . .[T]he novel Frankenstein is quite a read. . . .It's highly Romantic, in the literary sense. . .[there is] a good deal of attractive torment and self-doubt, from both Victor Frankenstein and his creation. . . .If ever a book needed to be placed in context, it's Frankenstein. —The New York Times Book Review

Introduction

Education of Mary Shelley
Education of Victor Frankenstein
Education of the Monster
Evolution of the Novel

Note on the Text

Chronology of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

Volume I
Volume II
Volume III

Appendix A: The Education of Mary Shelley

• Godwin
• Wollstonecraft

Appendix B: The Education of Victor Frankenstein 264

• Darwin
• Davy

Appendix C: The Education of The Monster

• Volney
• Goethe
• Plutarch
• Milton
• Wollstonecraft

Appendix D: Reviews of Frankenstein

• Scott, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
• The Edinburgh Magazine
• Croker, Quarterly Review
• P.B. Shelley, Athenaeum

Appendix E: Presumption (excerpt)

Appendix F: Substantive Variants in the 1831 Edition

Appendix G: Introduction [1831]

Works Cited / Recommended Reading