Frankenstein

Back in my younger days, my high school would hold yearly book reading events. The choice one day was Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.

Quite a bit of students would line up, waiting for their turn to read a few paragraphs of the novel.

To be honest, while I found the event very interesting, in practice it was a bit boring. I never stayed to listen for more than a few minutes. I didn’t enjoy the voices much. I believe many of the kids there only did this for bonus points, not putting much effort into performing and adding emotion to the written words.

Besides, I ignored the legacy of the novel itself, it just seemed like an old story that we were being forced to listen to.

I always wanted to participate and reading aloud. I actually really love doing so with family or at church, but I was too shy to do it at school.

I didn’t realize how important this novel was until much later. Very weird of me since I already loved classic science fiction stories. Little did I know, that before H.G. Wells or Jules Verne, there was Mary Shelley.

Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be his world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.

Other adaptations

I may as well mention that I watched some adaptations of the novel after I read it.

First, I read Junji Ito’s Manga version, which follows a lot of the same plot up to a point in the story where it changes completely and goes for a more spooky take on the creature and its actions. However, there are some things that happen way too fast, which I would have liked to see better developed.

Nonetheless, it was an interesting take on the characters and the message of the novel.

The art of this is also amazing, to be expected from Junji Ito’s style. The design of the creature was also pretty terrifying!

The finale ends up very similar to the novel. Though the story felt less nuanced, it still hit during the important moments.

Afterwards, I watched the movie! Not Guillermo del Toro’s latest adaptation, but the original film from 1931—which is going to become part of the public domain next year.

Its story pales in comparison to the original novel. However, I really appreciated it by what it is on its own, and I am willing to call it a masterpiece for the time. It has some dated moments and the fact that Victor and Henry swapped names is hilarious to me, but it still contains the original essence of the novel, as the creature—as dumbed down as it is compared to the book—is still misunderstood and feared.

The film features many iconic elements to the mythos, such as the “It’s alive!” scream, the character design, and the conclusion of the film, which is completely different to the novel, but has been parodied multiple times. There were some genuinely shocking and original scenes for the time, which caught me off-guard even today.

While not as thought-provoking, it is definitely worth a watch, just don’t expect it to be like the original at all.

Speaking of which, let’s get to it!

I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.

The novel!

There have been many influential books that I’ve read before, be it Dune, Roadside Picnic or The House on the Borderland. However, if we are talking about the cultural impact a book has had, it turns out that this one is on a whole different level.

There are plenty of classic works that have been bested by successors—sometimes the only thing of note is the fact that they did it first. But after two centuries, Frankenstein remains at the forefront of the genre.

At eighteen years old, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was part of a contest to make a spooky story. The participants were her husband Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori. Only the latter would end up completing the challenge as well, with The Vampyre, a work that kickstarted the vampire genre, but like many others, became a stepping stone, a prototype for more known works like Dracula.

The story should be known by everyone by cultural osmosis at this point. Victor Frankenstein has quite the life ahead of him, a good family and promising studies. However, he ends up obsessed with the secret to creating life, and once he discovers it, he decides to play god. He builds a living, intelligent being, ignoring his friends, family and future during the whole endeavor. However, as soon as his creation comes to life, Victor is horrified by it, considering it wretched and vile.

The creature is alone on this world, and rejected by his maker, wanders off. He slowly learns about the world, about humanity, about language and culture. But he realizes that he’ll never be accepted, but hated and feared by any person he meets, so he declares himself an enemy of humanity, and swears revenge on his creator.

The story is a tragedy, a series of events that unfolds and ends in misery for everyone involved. A cautionary tale that resonates today.

I have to say that the writing of this novel is genuinely beautiful. There are so many interesting dialogues and narrations that were truly pleasurable to read, it was rather simple to follow, but it felt profound nonetheless.

The novel does have a weird structure, it’s a bunch of letter that contain a narrative, and another narrative is told within that. There is tragedy after tragedy, and each one feels fated while also completely avoidable.

The dialogues and the events are easy to follow, but but there is that lingering feeling about how hopeless it is. Victor Frankenstein can’t help but doom himself further, assuming the worst and falling victim to his own dumb choices.

I genuinely could’t stop myself from reading this. It took me less than a week, and I read more than half the book in a single day. It is delightful, but I also have to say that there were a few words I had to look up to understand, and some of those long sentences that I had to read with an old times radio voice to get through. I didn’t need to read a Spanish translation at all though, so that’s cool.

Victor Frankenstein considered his creation as perfect up until the moment it was brought to life. Mary Shelley’s creation may not be perfect, but it is very close, a cultural icon with a message that rings true in today’s day and age.

The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.

This is day 69 of #100DaysToOffload