Frankenstein (Longman Cultural Editions)

Frankenstein (Longman Cultural Editions)
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein (Longman Cultural Editions)
List Price: $19.00
Our Price: $13.89
You Save: $5.11 (27%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.43 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Editor: Susan J. Wolfson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-07-10
ISBN: 0321399536
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Longman

Book Reviews of Frankenstein (Longman Cultural Editions)

Book Review: Great novel, good editing, terrible typography
Summary: 4 Stars

Frankenstein is a great work, though one that has consistently been underrated and misrepresented. Frankenstein is, in the words of Donald H. Reiman, "the most seminal literary work of the Romantic period". In my opinion, it is a work of profound and radical ideas, written in poetically powerful prose. Frankenstein is not really a gothic novel, although its author sometimes employs gothic conventions and language, and even spoofs them. Rather, Frankenstein is an enduring myth, a novel of ideas, and above all, a moral allegory about the evil effects of intolerance and prejudice, ostracism and alienation, both to the victims of intolerance and to society at large.
I'll concentrate on thisparticular edition -- the Longman edition edited by Susan J. Wolfson. Most importantly, this is the original 1818 edition, rather than the inferior, bowdlerized 1831 edition -- which is the most common, and the only one that was available for well over a century. Unfortunately, this edition can not be recommended owing to the typeface, Bodoni, which makes the text hard to read and makes it difficult to concentrate. Bodoni can sometimes be effective as a display typeface, but it is never appropriate for extended text. This is too bad, as there is some good material in the back. The best editions of the 1818 text are those edited by James Rieger (Chicago) or by J. Paul Hunter (Norton).
Please check out my own book, The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein, which makes the case that Frankenstein was really written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the greatest poets in the English language. I also argue that male love, both idealized and demonized, is a central theme of Frankenstein.
Five stars for Frankenstein, three stars for this edition.

Summary of Frankenstein (Longman Cultural Editions)

From the Longman Cultural Editions series, this second edition of Frankenstein presents Mary Shelley's remarkable novel in several provocative and illuminating contexts: cultural, critical, and literary.   

 

Series Editor Susan J. Wolfson presents the 1818 version of Mary Shelley's famous novel in its cultural and historical contexts. Like all great works of fiction, Frankenstein gains depth and dimension from its "conversation" with contemporary texts, especially those by Shelley's own parents, husband, and friends.  A lively introduction is complemented by a chronology coordinating Shelley's life with key historical events and a speculative calendar of the novel's events in the late eighteenth century.  In addition to the 1818 text, this cultural edition features the introduction to and a sample revision of the 1831 version.  New to this Edition is Frankentalk, a section of selected references to Frankenstein in the popular press, and the complete text of Richard Brinsley Peake?s Frankenstein, A Romantic Drama, the first stage version of Frankenstein.

Criticism & Theory Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Criticism & Theory Books
Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Oxford World's Classics) ImageMyths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Oxford World's Classics)
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-09-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Kalevala (Oxford World's Classics) ImageThe Kalevala (Oxford World's Classics)
by Elias Lonnrot, Albert B. Lord
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1999; Paperback; Book
Best price: $28.81
The Tain ImageThe Tain
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2002-11-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.55
Price in other shops: $19.95
Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot ImageSelected Prose of T.S. Eliot
by T. S. Eliot
Mariner Books; Published: 1975-11-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.82
Price in other shops: $18.95
David Copperfield (Penguin Classics) ImageDavid Copperfield (Penguin Classics)
by Charles Dickens
Penguin Classics; Published: 1997-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $7.95
Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (6th Edition) ImageAsking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (6th Edition)
by M. Neil Browne, Stuart M. Keeley
Prentice Hall College Div; Published: 2000-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.44
Price in other shops: $28.00
Arthur Rimbaud: Complete Works (P.S.) ImageArthur Rimbaud: Complete Works (P.S.)
by Arthur Rimbaud
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2008-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.03
Price in other shops: $14.99
Companion to Narnia ImageCompanion to Narnia
by Paul F. Ford
HarperSanFrancisco; Published: 1983-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.72
Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings (Perennial Classics) ImageLetters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings (Perennial Classics)
by Mark Twain
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2004-02-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops: $14.99
The Best American Poetry: 1992 ImageThe Best American Poetry: 1992
by David Lehman
Collier Books; Published: 1992-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops: $13.00
Similar Books and other products
Psychology: Making Connections ImagePsychology: Making Connections
by Gregory Feist, Erika Rosenberg
McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; Published: 2009-01-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $52.94
The Picture of Dorian Gray ImageThe Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
Tribeca Books; Published: 2010-12-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops: $8.88
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume D: The Romantic Period ImageThe Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume D: The Romantic Period
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2005-12-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.00
The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume 2B: The Victorian Age (4th Edition) ImageThe Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume 2B: The Victorian Age (4th Edition)
by David Damrosch, Kevin J. H. Dettmar, Heather Henderson, William Chapman Sharpe
Longman; Published: 2009-10-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.00
Price in other shops: $51.20
Oryx and Crake ImageOryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
Anchor; Published: 2004-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops: $15.00
Geek Love: A Novel ImageGeek Love: A Novel
by Katherine Dunn
Vintage; Published: 2002-06-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.82
Price in other shops: $15.95
Hard Times, A Longman Cultural Edition ImageHard Times, A Longman Cultural Edition
by Charles Dickens, Jeff Nunokawa, Gage McWeeny
Longman; Published: 2003-10-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: $15.20
Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volumes 2A, 2B, and 2C, The (4th Edition) ImageLongman Anthology of British Literature, Volumes 2A, 2B, and 2C, The (4th Edition)
by David Damrosch, Kevin J. H. Dettmar, Christopher Baswell, Clare Carroll, Andrew David Hadfield, Heather Henderson, Peter J. Manning, Anne Howland Schotter, William Chapman Sharpe, Stuart Sherman, Susan J. Wolfson
Longman; Published: 2009-10-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $46.60
Price in other shops: $74.67
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum (11th Edition) ImageWriting and Reading Across the Curriculum (11th Edition)
by Laurence M. Behrens, Leonard J. Rosen
Longman; Published: 2010-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $54.89
Price in other shops: $83.20
The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume 2A: The Romantics and Their Contemporaries (4th Edition) ImageThe Longman Anthology of British Literature, Volume 2A: The Romantics and Their Contemporaries (4th Edition)
by David Damrosch, Kevin J. H. Dettmar, Peter J. Manning, Susan J. Wolfson
Longman; Published: 2009-10-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.99
Price in other shops: $51.20
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories