Mary Shelley started writing Frankenstein at the age of 18 and finished it at the age of 19. This is surprising; because he showed literary talent at a young age and produced an important work.
"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus", published by British author Mary Shelley in 1818, has been among the important works of horror and gothic literature for more than 200 years. There are many details to know about Frankenstein, which has been adapted to cinema many times and has become an iconic part of popular culture.
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.
Interesting Facts About Frankenstein
1. Frankenstein Was the Author's Youth Work
Mary Shelley's teenage years were eventful. At the age of sixteen, she ran away to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Two years later she gave birth to two children. He started writing Frankenstein when they visited Switzerland in 1816. The book was published when the author was twenty years old.
2. Written About a Competition
The Shelley Family visited Switzerland in the "year without a summer". Some strange climate changes occurred with the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, and heavy rain fell frequently. Locked at home, the Shelley family and their friends were reading horror stories from Fantasmagoriana. At that time, Lord Byron suggested holding a competition within the group to see who could write the best horror story. Of course, it was Mary Shelley who won the contest.
3. Mary Shelley Was Inspired by a Dream for the Book
At first, the author had difficulty coming up with ideas. One night he had a dream which he described as follows:
"I saw a pale-faced student of the dark arts kneeling next to the thing he was assembling. In front of me was the silhouette of a disgusting man showing signs of life, connected to a powerful machine. He was both asleep and awake. When the student opened the curtain, he looked pale, watery, and worried at the terrible thing in front of him. He looked with his eyes."
When Mary Shelley woke up, she thought, "What scares me scares others," and she began writing the story.
4. The Story Was Written in the Midst of a Tragedy
Mary had given birth to a daughter before starting the book. The baby, named Clara, died six weeks later (in fact, only one of Mary's four children survived to adulthood). Shortly after losing her baby, she wrote in her diary:
“I dream of my baby coming to life. It's so cold that we try to warm it by the fire. Then I woke up and I couldn't see the baby. “I think about him all day.”
Along with this situation, it is thought that his stepsister's suicide also inspired the book.
5. “Frankenstein” is the Name of the Scientist, Not the Monster
The name of the mad scientist in the novel is Victor Frankenstein. The monster is not given a name, it is only referred to as "monster", "creature", "devil" or "it". If you are one of those who think the monster's name is Frankenstein, you are not alone. This mistake was also made in Edit Wharton's work The Reef and in the movie Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
6. There Really Is a Castle with the Same Name as the Book
Mary says she coined the name “Frankenstein” on her own. In fact, this word means "Stone of the Franks" in German. Historian Radu Florescu even claims that Mary visited Castle Frankenstein during her visit to the Rhine. It is thought that the author may have learned about the life of the alchemist Konrad Dippel, who lived there. The alchemist in question was working on a potion called Dippel's Oil that would allow people to live for a hundred years.
7. Many People Thought Percy Shelley Wrote the Book
Frankenstein was anonymous when first published. It was dedicated to Mary's father, William Godwin, and had a foreword written by Percy Shelley. For this reason, many people came to the conclusion that Percy Shelley wrote the book. This thought continued until the book was published under Mary's name. However, there are still those who claim that Percy may have written the book.
8. The work was widely criticized when it was published
When the book was published in 1818, it became the target of criticism. Quarterly Review's John Crocker said of the book: "This book tells terrible and disgusting nonsense." But at that time, gothic novels were increasing their popularity. Frankenstein also got its share of this popularity and managed to gain the appreciation of the reader.
9. Frankenstein Called the First Science Fiction Novel
Shelley also introduced the "mad scientist" character to literature. The influence of the book spread so much that even in daily speech, those who behaved scary and strange began to be called "Frankenstein".
Mary Shelley later wrote other works in this genre. One of these is Roger Dodsworth: The Reanimated Englishman, which tells about a frozen man, and the other is The Last Man, which tells about a man who survived the plague epidemic that devastated the world.
10. Thomas Edison Adapted the Book into a Movie
The fifteen-minute film that Thomas Edison shot in 1910, adapting the novel, is known as one of the first horror films in the world. The film was thought to be lost until it was rediscovered in the 1950s.