Frankenstein

<b>The original 1818 text of Mary Shelley's classic novel with annotations and essays highlighting its scientific ethical and cautionary aspects.</b><p>Mary Shelley's <i>Frankenstein </i>has endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. Begun as a ghost story by an intellectually and socially precocious eighteen-year-old author during a cold and rainy summer on the shores of Lake Geneva the dramatic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his stitched-together creature can be read as the ultimate parable of scientific hubris. Victor the modern Prometheus tried to do what he perhaps should have left to Nature: create life. Although the novel is most often discussed in literary-historical terms--as a seminal example of romanticism or as a groundbreaking early work of science fiction--Mary Shelley was keenly aware of contemporary scientific developments and incorporated them into her story. In our era of synthetic biology artificial intelligence robotics and climate engineering this edition of <i>Frankenstein</i> will resonate forcefully for readers with a background or interest in science and engineering and anyone intrigued by the fundamental questions of creativity and responsibility. </p><p>This edition of Frankenstein pairs the original 1818 version of the manuscript--meticulously line-edited and amended by Charles E. Robinson one of the world's preeminent authorities on the text--with annotations and essays by leading scholars exploring the social and ethical aspects of scientific creativity raised by this remarkable story. The result is a unique and accessible edition of one of the most thought-provoking and influential novels ever written.</p><p><b>Essays by<br></b>Elizabeth Bear Cory Doctorow Heather E. Douglas Josephine Johnston Kate MacCord Jane Maienschein Anne K. Mellor Alfred Nordmann</p>