Vintage Tales discussion

Hey guys! This is where we can talk about or save our comments to the end for our Group Read discussion of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I got the ebook on my tablet from Feedbooks so hope to start it soon. I can't wait to check it out. Has anyone else read this or is going to read it? enjoy, you guys! :)

I've read it...Glad to comment when the discussion gets going....:-)

Okay awesome you guys! ^_^

I've read Frankenstein twice, and did a paper on it for a Univ. of Iowa correspondence course on science fiction that I took for graduate credit back in the 90s. (So far, though, I've never gotten around to reviewing it here on Goodreads; I need to do that soon!) I'll also be glad to chime in with comments on this discussion!

so who here has not read Frankenstein besides me? just curious.

:-) Amber, I'm sure there will be others that haven't read it.

PS> Is this the discussion thread, or will it be in a separate thread?

This is the discussion thread Roderick. ^_^

I'll start on this after I finish Bridge of Time.

Awesome Stacie and my names Amber. LOL! ^_^ April is my mom's name and the name of this month.

That's okay. :)

Before I ever read Frankenstein, I had the impression (from things I'd read about it) that it was a cautionary tale about the dangers of hubristic science, and particularly about the horrible possibilities that might ensue from a successful attempt to create a sentient living creature. By the late 20th century, the fear that irresponsible Science might succeed in doing exactly that had become very plausible; and I think many people approach the novel that way.

By Shelley's own statement in her preface to the 1818 printing of the novel, though, that wasn't her intention; she wasn't afraid of actual artificial creation of life in the real world, because she didn't believe it was even possible. "I shall not be supposed," she wrote, "as according the remotest degree of serious faith to such an imagination.... however impossible as a physical fact, [it] affords a point of view to the imagination for the delineating of human passions more comprehensive and commanding than any which the ordinary relations of existing events can yield. I have thus endeavored to preserve the truth of the elementary principles of human nature, while I have not scrupled to innovate upon their combinations." (In other words, she uses a fantastic premise to make possible certain kinds of deep observations of truth about the real world --which is a pretty good programmatic statement of what serious speculative literature has always sought to do.)

What serious messages about the real world do you think Mary Shelley wanted to express with this novel? I have some thoughts of my own about that, and I'll share them later; but having two ears and only one mouth, I'd first be interested in what I can learn from others' thoughts!

Hi, to add to what Werner said, Frankenstein was originally conceived from a bet between her husband, Lord Byron, and herself on who could write the scariest tale. She won, hands down.

Yes, there was a bet between several literary chums, (Mary "not-yet" Shelley - she was only 18! - Percy Shelley, Lord Byron etc.) and of course Mary Shelley would be inclined towards writing because of her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft's great work as a pioneer of feminist writing and thinking. Thanks for reminding us, Roderick :)

Werner - Yes for many years I had the same preconceived ideas about Frankenstein, and was surprised when I read it by how poignant is is. The passage you quote from the author herself is very interesting, and reveals that it is, indeed, an allegory. Thanks to you, too :)

I'm not sure if I can fit in a reread of this one this month, but will see.

Another bit of history. It was conceived when they were in Geneva, Switzerland on a summer getaway. There are several references to the Mont Blanc and region of Geneva called Plainpalais in there as well as a mention of the Geneva walls. Franenstein runs from Plainpalais to the mountains of Mont Blanc if I remember correctly.

Burg Frankenstein is also a real-life castle overlooking the Rhine River, which Mary passed while cruising on the river with Shelley not long before writing the book. That's apparently where she got her protagonist's name.

I haven't started on this one yet but will after I finish Wind in the willows and a read for review request ebook I accepted recently. Frankenstein is a ebook too but got to finish the two I'm reading first. :)An author friend told me it was a pretty good read and he's the author of the book The Horror Movie Society.

I have always loved this novel - I feel it has one of the most powerful endings in literature (no spoilers here I promise. If you consider the speeches to Robert Walton (first Frankenstein and then the monster) they are pure poetry, soliloquies - the monster's speech especially reminds of Faustus as he waits for Mephistopheles to come and claim him.

I'll start this soon. What did everyone else think? and have you started it yet Stacie?

I posted my review of the book here on Goodreads earlier tonight; here's the link: www.goodreads.com/review/show/18335060 . I gave it three stars as the subjective rating for my personal enjoyment of it (on the whole, I lean more to works that are less dark). But if it were rated strictly in terms of literary craftsmanship, it would deserve higher marks, IMO.

Thanks, Stacie! I'll look forward to reading your review, too.

Awesome Stacie! I haven't got to reading it yet as I am reading the new Virals book and the final Kingdom Keepers book by ridley pearson but will hopefully get to this one this year if I can't read it this month.