Amazing read! As a horror fan I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I've never actually read Frankenstein. Would you recommend the original 1818 edition or the revised 1831 text?
It's the 1831 edition that I have read repeatedly, so I'm more closely familiar with that one. And I highly recommend it. This is the edition that simply *was* the novel FRANKENSTEIN for most readers for a very long time, maybe a century and a half. It wasn't until late in the twentieth century that many people, especially in the scholarly community, started revisiting the 1818 edition and recognizing just how fascinating it can be to compare this text with the revised 1831 text in order to gain a better understanding of Mary's psyche, personality, intellectual development, personal relationships, life experiences, and relative stance toward her changing historical-cultural milieu, including, significantly, the impact of the public and critical response to the original edition on her own thinking and sensibility.
The trendy answer, so to speak, is to recommend the 1818 edition because it may be closer to Mary's raw original vision. And it truly does have a different tone and slant. I personally have no strong recommendation either way. I can only say the 1831 edition has been a cherished companion of mine.
Thank you so much for this in-depth response! Super helpful and now I can't wait to dive in (once I finish my current read: Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamer)!
Amazing read! As a horror fan I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I've never actually read Frankenstein. Would you recommend the original 1818 edition or the revised 1831 text?
It's the 1831 edition that I have read repeatedly, so I'm more closely familiar with that one. And I highly recommend it. This is the edition that simply *was* the novel FRANKENSTEIN for most readers for a very long time, maybe a century and a half. It wasn't until late in the twentieth century that many people, especially in the scholarly community, started revisiting the 1818 edition and recognizing just how fascinating it can be to compare this text with the revised 1831 text in order to gain a better understanding of Mary's psyche, personality, intellectual development, personal relationships, life experiences, and relative stance toward her changing historical-cultural milieu, including, significantly, the impact of the public and critical response to the original edition on her own thinking and sensibility.
The trendy answer, so to speak, is to recommend the 1818 edition because it may be closer to Mary's raw original vision. And it truly does have a different tone and slant. I personally have no strong recommendation either way. I can only say the 1831 edition has been a cherished companion of mine.
For a quick overview of the differences that might help to inform your opinion, see https://stanforddaily.com/2018/11/29/frankenstein-and-its-transformations.
For a more in-depth consideration, see http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/mellor9.html.
For another article by Mellor (author of the second linked piece above), and one that strongly recommends the 1818 edition as the ones teachers should use, see https://www.thatenglishteacher.com/uploads/6/6/8/5/6685188/ak_melloe-choosing_a_text_-1818_or_1831.pdf.
Thank you so much for this in-depth response! Super helpful and now I can't wait to dive in (once I finish my current read: Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamer)!
Frankenstein right after SOADD should make for an interesting vibe shift. Cool.
Lovely poem. Intriguing discussion.
Thank you, Jerry. I know that you, too, are intimately acquainted with that "voice, sometimes loud, sometimes soft."
“People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.”
-Ursula K. LeGuin