Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Published in 1869

Reference #0313

Third American Edition. “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” was a novel written by Mary Shelley between 1816 and 1817; and first published anonymously in 1818.

The work was created out of a competition proposed by Lord Byron to see who could write the best horror story. The idea for the story came to Shelley in a dream and she later evolved the plot. “Frankenstein” is the story of Victor Frankenstein, a science student, who creates a grotesque and sentient creature in an unorthodox experiment. The novel has been seen by many as a warning to modern man against overreaching and the Industrial Revolution. In addition, “Frankenstein” has had a significant influence across literature and popular culture and helped lay the foundation to a complete genre of horror stories and films.