The original 1818 text of Mary Shelley's classic novel with annotations and essays
highlighting its scientific ethical and cautionary aspects. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has
endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. Begun as a ghost story by an
intellectually and socially precocious eighteen-year-old author during a cold and rainy summer
on the shores of Lake Geneva the dramatic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his
stitched-together creature can be read as the ultimate parable of scientific hubris. Victor
"the modern Prometheus ” tried to do what he perhaps should have left to Nature: create life.
Although the novel is most often discussed in literary-historical terms—as a seminal example of
romanticism or as a groundbreaking early work of science fiction—Mary Shelley was keenly aware
of contemporary scientific developments and incorporated them into her story. In our era of
synthetic biology artificial intelligence robotics and climate engineering this edition of
Frankenstein will resonate forcefully for readers with a background or interest in science and
engineering and anyone intrigued by the fundamental questions of creativity and
responsibility. This edition of Frankenstein pairs the original 1818 version of the
manuscript—meticulously line-edited and amended by Charles E. Robinson one of the world's
preeminent authorities on the text—with annotations and essays by leading scholars exploring
the social and ethical aspects of scientific creativity raised by this remarkable story. The
result is a unique and accessible edition of one of the most thought-provoking and influential
novels ever written. Essays by Elizabeth Bear Cory Doctorow Heather E. Douglas Josephine
Johnston Kate MacCord Jane Maienschein Anne K. Mellor Alfred Nordmann
