Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
Frankenstein
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First published AD 1818, written in English
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature from different body parts in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18 and staying in Bath, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in a French translation published in Paris in 1821.
Your reading
Where it is set
- Geneva
Switzerland
She then journeyed to the region of Geneva, Switzerland, where much of the story takes place. Source: Wikipedia, reviewed
What it draws on
- Paradise Lost
John Milton, AD 1667
The creature finds a copy of Paradise Lost and reads it as true history, seeing himself now as Adam, made and abandoned by his maker, now as Satan, shut out from happiness. Adam's lament, 'Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me Man?', is the novel's epigraph.
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