Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley was only 19 years old when she wrote the novel during a summer in 1816 when she was challenged to a ghost story writing contest by Lord Byron. The novel was published anonymously in 1818 and helped establish the science fiction genre, examining themes of the dangers of scientific advancement and humanity's role as creator. It has since become one of the most widely read works of English literature.

1. Frankenstein
By Mary Shelley

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Literary family: daughter of William
Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft (early
feminist)
Informal education (Well-read, grew up
around Coleridge, Lamb, Percy Shelley)
1812: Met Percy Bysshe Shelley at age 15;
he was married; they travelled together &
had a child (scandalous!)
Summer of 1816: Percy Shelley and Mary
met up with Lord Byron and John
William Poldiori at Lake Geneva,
Switzerland
Byron proposed ghost story contest 
Frankenstein; Mary was only 19 years old!
Dec. 30, 1816: Mary and Percy are
married after his wife Harriet dies
1822: Percy drowns in boating accident

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1818: Frankenstein published
anonymously
1831: Second edition; Mary
Shelley’s name appears on
it
Many believed that Percy
Shelley wrote it
Framed narrative
Misconception:
Monster=Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein =
Doctor who creates the
monster
Frontispiece of 1831 edition

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Edmund Burke, “A
Philosophical Inquiry into
the Origin of Our Ideas of
the Sublime and the
Beautiful” (1756)
An experience that
produces both horror and
pleasure
Inspires both fear and awe
Vast, infinite spaces (the
starry night sky, the ocean)
Sublime landscapes: wild
& untamed, not pastoral

5. Joseph Vernet, “The Shipwreck” (1759)

6. Thomas Cole, “Romantic Landscape With Ruined Tower” (1832)

7. J.M.W. Turner, “Snow Storm—Steam Boat off a Harbor's Mouth Making Signals
in Shallow Water, and Going by the Lead. The Author was in This Storm on the
Night the Ariel Left Harwich” (1842)