Frankenstein by Mary Shelley ~ July Book Club Online

[marcie]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  Everyone is welcome to join in.

"Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed."

Frankenstein  by Mary Shelley Frankenstein is a story many of us think we know but actually don't. Very few films have followed the novel very closely. The monster of the book is intelligent and soft-spoken. The themes are timeless and full of conflict. Join us as we read this fantastic story, created by 19-year old Mary Shelley, and share your thoughts about its characters and meanings. Reading Schedule (dated version of book--1818 or 1831-- precedes chapter breakdown): July 1-6:  (1818) Vol I, Letters, Chapters 1-5                (1831) Letters, Chapters 1-6 Last sentence: "My own spirits were high, and I bounded along with feelings of unbridled joy and hilarity." July 7-12:  (1818) Vol I, Ch 6-7, Vol II, Ch 1-4                  (1831) Ch 7-12 Last sentence: "......and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipation of joy." July 13-18:  (1818) Vol II, Ch 5-9, Vol III, Ch 1-2                  (1831) Ch 13-19 Last sentence: "..... forebodings of evil that made my heart sicken in my bosom." July 19-24:  (1818) Vol III Ch 3-7, Letters                  (1831) Ch 20-24, Letters July 26-31:  Thoughts on anything in the book and film versions

Previous discussion questions and links

Questions for July 26-31:

Thoughts on anything in the book and film versions.

Discussion Leaders: PatH and marcie

 

The full text is available online at literature.org and Read Print and Project Gutenberg -
Online version of original 1818 Edition

[marcie]

I've had a great time over the past several days watching films related to Frankenstein. My public library has a good collection of DVDs. They were very good. Has anyone else seen any Frankenstein-related movies?

10 minute 1910 silent film adaptation of Frankenstein: http://www.trailerspy.com/trailer/8588/Thomas-Edisons-1910-Frankenstein-Movie-Restored.

Boris Karloff Frankenstein: The Legacy Collection
--Frankenstein with commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer
--Bride of Frankenstein with commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen
--Son of Frankenstein
--Ghost of Frankenstein
--House of Frankenstein
--theatrical trailers for all the films except Son of Frankenstein
--poster and photo galleries for Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein
-- discussion by Van Helsing director Stephen Sommers of the pervading influence of Universal's Frankenstein's monster in the horror movie industry.
--The Frankenstein Files: How Hollywood Made a Monster: looks back through the history of the Universal Frankenstein movies --She's Alive! Creating the Bride of Frankenstein: examines the making of Bride of Frankenstein.
--a short film called Boo!

Boris Karloff Frankenstein: Anniversary 75th Edition
--Frankenstein with commentary by Rudy Behlmer
--Frankenstein with commentary by historian Sir Christopher Frayling
--"Karloff: The Gentle Monster" featurette
--"The Frankenstein Files: How Hollywood Made a Monster" featurette
--Feature-length documentary Universal Horror
--"Monster Tracks" interactive pop-up trivia
--"Frankenstein Archives" poster and still galleries
--"Boo! A Short Film"
--Theatrical Trailer

Gods and Monsters
--Gods and Monsters: a film about the later life of James Whale, director of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, with commentary by director Bill Condon
--The World of Gods and Monsters: The Making of

[JoanK]

I hadn't watched the silent version before. It's a hoot! The power of love conquers all! The begining is a classic:

'Frankenstein leaves for college--- two years later he has discovered the secret of life."

You can tell Shelley never had any formal education; no one who has would have THAT much faith in it!!

[Babi]

You can tell Shelley never had any formal education; no one who has would have THAT much faith in it!!

JoanK

 

[JoanP]

   Very funny, JoanK!

In 1823 Mary Shelley's father told her of an English Opera House production of a play entitled Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein. Though inspired by her novel, the play departed from it freely — as playwrights, filmmakers, and political cartoonists have done ever since. Shelley's original novel, memorable for its story and ambitious in the large questions it poses, has invariably been simplified and distorted, sometimes almost beyond recognition. 

http://www.phobos-deimos.com/History/Frankenstein/Frankenstein%20History.htm


She was so young when she wrote this, she must have seen a number of the spin-offs from her story.  I'll bet she was amused...and it meant that people would keep on reading her book...

[marcie]

JoanK :-)

Thanks, JoanP, for the site about the spinoffs and background. The spinoffs must have helped to increase the sale of her book, even though they were quite different from it. Subsequent spinoffs, such as some of the movies, were even based on scripts for stage plays, and not on the original book.

In hearing the comments (on the documentaries on the Frankenstein DVDS) of people who saw Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and other horror films of the early 1930s, I'm now pretty sure that many readers of her day would have been shocked by some of the things in Mary Shelley's book. Maybe they even were sorry for Frankenstein during all of his "woe is me" wanderings. Sensibilities have certainly changed over time.

The DVD documentaries said that the censors questioned hundreds of items in director James Whale's Frankenstein and Bride Of films as being too shocking for movie goers at the time. Some examples I remember are: showing dirt being shoveled onto graves; showing the creature being given an injection in his neck; "blasphemy" spoken by the Frankenstein character when he says he knows what it is like to be god)

[HaroldArnold]

Well just yesterday I finished reading the final chapter XXIV.  I suppose this final chapter constituted aa acceptable ending of the story with the Monster telling Robert Walton, that his mission of murderous revenge was over with the death of Frankenstein.  He seems somewhat sorry for his necessary murders of the 5 innocent Frankenstein relatives and friends. He promises no more terror acts and contemplates his own terminating death as blessed relief from his life of social isolation and loneliness.

I have been wanting to read this novel since I first read the J.B. Priestley comments on it so many years ago.  Thank you for initiating this discussion.  Also I am glad I read it in its digital form.  The text on my computer seemed quite easy to read and understand.  I plan to use digital editions for other books either on a computer as I read this one, or on a digital reader such as the Kindel, Nook, Apple I-Pad and other.  Incidentally Dell is about to release its own small screen computer-(5 inch) tablet device next week and plans a larger 9 inch screen version next year. 

[PatH]

The DVD documentaries said that the censors questioned hundreds of items in director James Whale's Frankenstein and Bride Of films as being too shocking for movie goers at the time. Some examples I remember are: showing dirt being shoveled onto graves; showing the creature being given an injection in his neck; "blasphemy" spoken by the Frankenstein character when he says he knows what it is like to be god)

I wonder what the censors would have thought of the one Frankenstein movie I've seen.  This is the 1994 "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein", with Kenneth Branagh as Victor (he also directed).  This is one of the most gruesome, bloody movies I've seen.  I have a high tolerance for movie gore, and it was almost too much for me.

In some ways, it's a very good job.  Branagh sticks more closely to the book than others; especially, in the relationship of the Creature to Victor, thinking of Victor as a father figure.  There is a pathetic moment in the final conversation between Walton and the Creature, when the Creature says "He never gave me a name".  Instead of heading off for the North Pole, the Creature makes a funeral pyre for the dead Victor, and throws himself on it--a good change.  And the spirit of University life is well captured.

But Branagh has made some pretty unfortunate changes.  Victor's motivation is supposed to be that his mother died in childbirth (unnecessarily graphic) so he wants to conquer death.  When Elizabeth is murdered, he reanimates her, with unfortunate effects.  And a lot of other changes that have faded since I saw it.  I'm not about to watch it again to check.

[Frybabe]

Thanks for the movie review PatH. I think I will continue to refrain from watching it. I am not a horror film lover. The few horror books I've read I seem to take better. I guess I just don't have the knack for imagining things gory, well, not as gory as the films anyway.

[Babi]

JoanP 

She was so young when she wrote this, she must have seen a number of the spin-offs from her story.  I'll bet she was amused...and it meant that people would keep on reading her book...

   JOAN, I was reminded by your remark ot Liberace, when his work
was criticized, remarking that he "cried all the way to the bank".  I
still grin at that one.
   

[marcie]

That's so funny, Babi.   

[JoanP]

This has been such a fascinating and rewarding discussion of a book I don't think I would have picked up had it not been offered here!  Thank you Marcie, thank you, PatH for keeping us moving and for providing so much extra information along the way to liven things up.  You're the best!

Thanks too to everyone who participated here,. you added so much!

[Frybabe]

Thanks PatH and Marcie for a most interesting discussion. I've enjoyed all the comments.

[marcie]

I've enjoyed the discussion too and everyone's thoughtful interpretations and informative links and resources prodded me to learn much, much more than I would have on my own. Thanks very much to PatH and all of the participants.

[PatH]

This has been an amazing discussion, thanks to the high quality of the thoughts you all came up with, and Marcie's fearless leadership.  I can hardly believe all the meaning we wrung out of the book.

Thanks to everyone for making it so worth while.

[Babi]

 I am another who would never have read this book if it had not come up for discussion.  And as usual, I learned how much I didn't know about
it.  My thanks to two terrific leaders and to all who showed me the things I had missed.

[straudetwo]

Here I am at last. As I had feared, I did not have the time to participate in the discussion but I kept up with it by following the detailed  exchanges as best I could.  I had mentioned at the outset that I have read the book and had not thought I'd ever want to read it again. Please let me explain.

I read the book a long time ago when I attended the U. of Heidelberg and took classes in comparative literature on European Romanticism, including the lives of the representative authors.  In this case Mary W. Shelley, her husband, Percy, Byron and his satellites.

After all these years it is impossible to say why the book made me uncomfortable then and why I disliked Victor so heartily. I hasten to add,  it was/is not the flowery writing style because it is same used also by French and German Romantic poets/writers.  (The German symbol for the Romantic period is the blue flower. )

But here was my chance to read this classic again together with this great group.  I got a  library  copy and, reluctantly at first, I read.   As the discussion deepened, certain details suddenly spilled out of a forgotten drawer of my memory that had miraculously opened.  

My impression  now is no different.  I am still uncomfortable with the concept of the story as told by Mary Shelley.  The indirect narrative by Mr. Walton is a well known literary device, a "frame" to get into a story. My opinion of Victor is similar to whatPatH said in her # 191.  

With reference to chapters 21-24, I agree with Marcie that Victor showed fear of his Creation, and for good reason as we see.  He also seems to have been tormented by restlessness  (the hasty trips between Geneva and England), perhaps even an unacknowledged feeling of guilt for rushing ahead and "cobble" together a living being without giving any thought to what actions the Creature might take independently of its (presumptuous)creator, or how impossible it might be for him to disavow what he had created.

Mentioned in the book without much detail is the university of Ingolstadt which Victor is said to have attended.  Ingolstadt is a German town in the state of Bavaria. There was a university in Ingolstadt at Mary Shelley's time, a Catholic university.  (Catholicism is the prevailing denomination in Bavaria.) A university still exists but as a secular institution; the Jesuits have withdrawn.

Many thanks to Marcie and PatH  for their guidance and gratitude to all who participated in this outstanding discussion and provided both background and new insights.

[marcie]

Traude, you certainly were not alone in feeling uncomfortable with the book. I'm glad you made it into the discussion to share some of your thoughts about it.

[JoanK]

This was a great discussion. Like most of us, I'd heard about Frankenstein forever and never read it. And, as usual with our great leaders and participants, we discovered so much to talk about and learn. Thank you all.

[Mippy]

Thanks to you great DLs, Marcie and PatH.  Due to lots of guests and way too many workmen underfoot, as we tried to fix up this old house, I could not participate very much.  It was enlightening to read everyone's comments.   Thanks to all!