Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus

the 1818 text

261 pages

English language

Published Nov. 11, 2008 by Oxford University Press.

ISBN:
978-0-19-953715-0
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5 stars (4 reviews)

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.

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O manual do vilão

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Por capricho Victor Frankenstein teceu os fios da vida. O destino o conduziu por caminhos tortuosos, até este ponto, vaidades e acaso… Por capricho Victor Frankenstein esmagou a criatura sob o peso de seu desdém. Assim começa a tragédia do criador e da criatura. A figura de Frankenstein é marcada por um lamento constante, sua tragédia reside em sua incapacidade de agir até ser tarde demais. Seu pecado o persegue, ele é incapaz de confessá-lo ou dar cabo dele. Vemos um personagem ser consumido passivamente. Já a criatura, órfã de seu criador, vaga solitária como um animal pelos bosques enquanto desenvolve aos poucos seus gostos, experimenta pela primeira vez a fome e a comida, o frio e o calor, a solidão… e apenas isso. O monstro, como é chamado, isolado, ama platonicamente tudo o que é de mais humano. Negado em seus afetos, o ressentimento cresce, ele se vê como …

An unexpected pleasure

5 stars

I wasn't expecting to like this book anywhere near as much as I ended up doing! The story as told in the book is much more interesting than the limited image of it that's got in to popular culture, and this was my first encounter with the whole thing. It's so much more about deeply flawed Victor Frankenstein (TLDR: our reading group kept using the term "main character syndrome") than about the mad science process. And while the creature is far from likeable, his portrayal has genuine pathos, even though most of what we hear about him is secondhand through the recounting of someone who hates him.

There are several impressively strong resonances to the modern world, between the general lack of ethics in tech and the current wave of "AI" hype. And of course big self-centred men who think that extreme success in one sphere gives them licence to …

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Subjects

  • Frankenstein (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
  • Scientists -- Fiction
  • Monsters -- Fiction
  • Geneva (Switzerland) -- Fiction

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