• A new edition of Mary Shelley's immensely powerful and iconic Gothic novel
• An epic parable warning against the threats to humanity posed by accelerating technological progress
• Nick Groom's fascinating introduction details the literary and historical context of Frankenstein, from the politics of human rights raised by the French Revolution, to approaches to maternity and women's writing, and Gothic engagement with science and technology
• Considers the novel's contribution to contemporary debates in animal studies, identity politics, the environment, and changing definitions of the 'human'

New to this Edition:

• Appendices of Mary Shelley's biographical introduction to the 1831 edition, the substantive changes made for that edition, and Percy Bysshe Shelley's own (anonymous) review of the novel
• Up-to-date bibliography, extensive new biographical and cultural chronology, and revised explanatory notes

        
By the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window-shutters, I beheld the wretch-the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened...
     
Frankenstein is the most celebrated horror story ever written. It tells the dreadful tale of Victor Frankenstein, a visionary young student of natural philosophy, who discovers the secret of life. In the grip of his obsession he constructs a being from dead body parts, and animates this creature. The results, for Victor and for his family, are catastrophic.
    
Written when Mary Shelley was just eighteen, Frankenstein was inspired by the ghost stories and vogue for Gothic literature that fascinated the Romantic writers of her time. She transformed these supernatural elements an epic parable that warned against the threats to humanity posed by accelerating technological progress. 
     
Published for the 200th anniversary, this edition, based on the original 1818 text, explains in detail the turbulent intellectual context in which Shelley was writing, and also investigates how her novel has since become a byword for controversial practices in science and medicine, from manipulating ecosystems to vivisection and genetic modification. As an iconic study of power, creativity, and, ultimately, what it is to be human, Frankenstein continues to shape our thinking in profound ways to this day.