Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley's deceptively simple story of Victor Frankenstein and the creature he brings to life, first published in 1818, is now more widely read than any other work of the Romantic period. From the creature's creation to his wild lament over the dead body of his creator in the Arctic wastes, the story retains its narrative hold on the reader even as it spins off ideas in rich profusion.
New to this edition is a discussion of Percy Shelley's role in contributing to the first draft of the novel. Recent scholarship has clarified the degree to which Percy Shelley edited, modified, and added to Mary Shelley's original text, and this edition's note on the text discusses this scholarship, as well as the controversy over whether Percy Shelley should be considered a co-author of the work.
Frankenstein Reviews
"This is the best, the most thoughtful advanced school edition of Frankenstein ever done. The text is well-edited, the introduction is thorough, and the collection of contextual documents could hardly be improved." -- Jerome McGann, University of Virginia
"Superb. The introduction and appendices are particularly valuable ... accessible and illuminating." -- Bernard Hirsch, University of Kansas
"I have taught Frankenstein before, but this edition, with its compact, thoughtfully chosen, pedagogically helpful, and scholarly auxiliaries to the text of the novel, has renewed my excitement about teaching it again. The novel itself awakens interest in the students, but the introductions and appendices compel their respect for scholarly work and offer many creative ways to go about it." -- Randall VanderMey, Westmont College
"As an Associate Editor of the many-volumed Cornell Wordsworth Series, I have been dealing with editorial issues for the last forty years. The third edition of Broadview's Frankenstein is one of the best classroom editions (of any book) that I have seen. It is extraordinarily sensitive to textual issues, and it resists the temptation to simplify complex matters; the book instead helps students to understand the various complications and why they are important. The supplementary materials are just what an instructor needs to set Frankenstein in its context and to promote informed student discussion of the novel's central themes." -- Jim Butler, La Salle University
About Mary Shelley
Kathleen Scherf is Professor of Communications at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia.
They co-edited the Broadview Editions of Mary Wollstonecraft's The Vindications, Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk, and John Polidori's The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold.