FRANKENSTEIN: A CULTURAL HISTORY

I thought Frankenstein was boring when I read it in high school, but I developed an appreciation for it in a world-rocking class on “The Condition of England Novel” during my semester abroad at the University of East Anglia, where the professor interpreted it—in the light of the history of anatomy, dissection, and grave robbing in the nineteenth century—as an extended class metaphor with the monster representing the lower classes rising up against the aristocracy. Even though I still don’t love the novel, it’s clearly rich source material that’s generated an enduring myth, so I was interested in Susan Tyler Hitchcock’s light but informative survey of the many ways in which Frankenstein has been reinterpreted throughout history. I knew that the popular image of Frankenstein bore little resemblance to the original book, but I was surprised to learn that this wasn’t the sole fault of the Boris Karloff movie—in fact, thanks to lax-to-nonexistent copyright laws, Shelley’s novel was already being bastardized in other books and plays during her lifetime. This wasn’t an essential read, but I liked its blend of biography, literary theory, film history, and pop culture, and it did inspire me to rewatch the 1931 film as well as the excellent Gods and Monsters—which then led me to start reading the novel on which it was based, Father of Frankenstein.