Frankenstein : The 1818 Text

For the bicentennial of its first publication Mary Shelley’s original 1818 text introduced by National Book Critics Circle award-winner Charlotte Gordon. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read 2018 marks the bicentennial of Mary Shelley’s seminal novel. For the first time Penguin Classics will publish the original 1818 text which preserves the hard-hitting and politically-charged aspects of Shelley’s original writing as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also emphasizes Shelley’s relationship with her mother—trailblazing feminist Mary Wollstonecraft who penned A Vindication of the Rights of Woman—and demonstrates her commitment to carrying forward her mother’s ideals placing her in the context of a feminist legacy rather than the sole female in the company of male poets including Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. This edition includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by National Book Critics Circle award-winner and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson. Review “ Frankenstein is as efficient and resonant a reference today as it was in 1818. . . In this bicentennial year much will be written about Frankenstein its adaptations and whether there exists a definitive or superior version of the novel.”—Genevieve Valentine NPR