MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKESTEIN
It has been two hundred years since an 18-year old girl woke from a lucid dream, and a story that would become the cornerstone [foundation] of science fiction and Gothic literature was born. Since its conception on the shores of Lake Geneva, Frankenstein has become one of the great modern creations myths: the young brilliant scientist, drunk on ambition and knowledge, who discovers the secrets of animating flesh and brings to life a monstrous creature, which then seeks to destroy him and the lives of those he loves.The tale begins on a dark and stormy night of June 1816, which later became known as ‘The Year without a Summer’.
Mary was part of an unprecedented gathering of literary minds, which included her lover, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and a recently exiled Lord Byron, who was staying at the Villa Diodati. The days were dismal [gloomy, sad]. Candlelight flickered [shine unsteadily] within the house and violent lightening flashed across the surface of the lake. The group were high on the sublime, sensation, and probably more illicit substances, when the challenge was put out by Byron: “We will each write a ghost story.” After many days, Frankenstein was born, quite suitably, out of a nightmare. Mary, somewhere between dreams and reality, saw the “hideous phantasm of a man stretched out … On the working of some powerful engine, [it shows] signs of life.” She had her story.
Many critics have argued that we need look no further than the novel’s subtitle – The Modern Prometheus – to understand the meaning of the work: the aspiration of men to master life and death.
Adapted from : http://www.varsity.co.uk/culture/10362
