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Frankenstein: How A Monster Became an Icon: The Science and Enduring Allure of Mary Shelley's Creation Kindle Edition

by Sidney Perkowitz (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.5 3.5 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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The tale of a tormented creature created in a laboratory began on a rainy night in 1816 in the imagination of a nineteen-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Since its publication two years later, Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus has spread around the globe through every possible medium and variation. Frankenstein has not been out of print once in 200 years. “Frankenstein” has become an indelible part of popular culture, and is shorthand for anything bizarre and human-made; for instance, genetically modified crops are “Frankenfood.”Conversely, Frankenstein’s monster has also become a benign Halloween favorite. Yet for all its long history, Frankenstein's central premise—that science, not magic or God, can create a living being, and thus these creators must answer for their actions as humans, not Gods—is most relevant today as scientists approach creating synthetic life.In its popular and cultural weight and its expression of the ethical issues raised by the advance of science, physicist Sidney Perkowitz and film expert Eddy von Muller have brought together scholars and scientists, artists and directions—including Mel Brooks—to celebrate and examine Mary Shelley’s marvelous creation and its legacy as the monster moves into his next century.
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  1. Print length
    247 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Pegasus Books
  5. Publication date
    January 2, 2018
  6. File size
    29019 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“For all the historical specificity of these references, the novel’s qualms about the underside of progress have never resonated more than in the 21st century. The issues raised by artificial life are no longer hypothetical. Genetic modification and robotics have made them urgent. Those analogies are delineated in Frankenstein: How a Monster Became an Icon. It includes a useful summary of current attitudes among scientists to techniques commonly known as ‘playing God.”
- The Economist

“Highly readable and entertaining, with a wealth of interesting information set in an accurate and sound scientific framework. Deserves cult status. ”
- New Scientist (Praise for Sidney Perkowitz)

“The legacy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is celebrated in this respectful anthology. A fine case for the enduring value of Shelley’s timeless tale.”
- Publishers Weekly

“Very enjoyable. Readers fond of Shelley’s original work, as well as those who enjoy consuming the culture it’s spawned and influenced, will find this a book to savor, and despite edited compilations not being the usual choice for book groups, this could be a stellar choice for any pop-culture savvy group that’s recently worked with Shelley’s title. Recommended.”
- Library Journal

“Those seeking to delve further will find intelligent essays on the novel’s origins, appropriations and scientific relevance in Frankenstein: How a Monster Became an Icon, edited by physicist Sidney Perkowitz and filmmaker Eddy von Mueller. Bringing together the 'two cultures' of art and science just as Shelley did in her novel, this collection also provides insights into this modern myth by those who have contributed to its expansion.”
- Wall Street Journal

“Perkowitz is a gloriously lucid science writer.”
- The Washington Post (praise for UNIVERSAL FOAM)

About the Author

Sidney Perkowitz is a professor emeritus at Emory University. He is the author of Empire of Light and Universal Foam and has written for The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Discover, Physics World, Aeon and more. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Eddy Von Mueller is a scholar, filmmaker and educator in Atlanta, Georgia.  He has published on subjects ranging from silent adaptations of Shakespeare to the nature films produced by the Walt Disney Company, and his most recent feature film, "The Lady From Sockholm," played over thirty film festivals around the world.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B074D3ZDMN
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pegasus Books; 1st edition (January 2, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 2, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 29019 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 247 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.5 3.5 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

Customer reviews

3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5 out of 5
14 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

EdM.
4.0 out of 5 stars Essays on Frankenstein and Ethics
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2018
Verified Purchase
This year marks two hundred years since the original published text by Mary Shelly. This edition looks at the ethics and evolution of the story and how the story has become part of popular culture. From the origins through to media manipulation, the different essays shines new light on the tales told of the creature as well as the scientific aspects of creation. Even modern interpretations such as Penny Dreadful and I, Frankenstein are given discussion. A nice, slim volume that causes the reader to think more about the aspects of such a classic. This is recommended reading for those interested in Frankenstein in any way.
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Russell Hamblet
3.0 out of 5 stars I was already disappointed with my purchase
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2018
Verified Purchase
The very first line in the introduction reads, "On a rainy night in 1816, eighteen-year old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley sat with her new husband, the celebrated poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their friends in a villa on the shores of Lake Como in Italy; among them, the poet and adventurer Lord Byron." As soon as I read this, I was already disappointed with my purchase, because in that one sentence there are two very glaring inaccuracies. Firstly, Mary and Percy were not yet married on this rainy night (they did not marry until December 30th of 1816), and secondly, they were not on the shores of Lake Como in Italy, but rather Lake Geneva in Switzerland. These inaccuracies are repeated by other people elsewhere in the book, although, I think Mel Brooks can be forgiven for his error in naming Lake Como as the location. But for the editors and authors to get these facts wrong is just shameful. Even a quick check on Wikipedia could have prevented these glaring errors. And while I do love the movie Young Frankenstein, I can't help but shake my head in bewilderment when Mel Brooks claims that he tried to stay true to the original novel by Marry Shelley and that he believes his movie follows the novel more closely than any other movie. And while I did find a few of the essays to be informative or entertaining, many of them I found be dull, repetitive, useless or too philosophical for my tastes. Despite this fact, I am giving the book three stars, as opposed to two, as others my find the book and its essays more to their liking than I did.
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SkipDesign
4.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2019
Verified Purchase
This book was better than the actual Novel, "FRANKENSTEIN" which was disapointing and mostly boring. Victor Frankenstein was a Wussy, a weak, sniveling bore of a guy.
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Frontline
2.0 out of 5 stars Oh, and also...
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2019
Verified Purchase
And yet another outstanding mistake to add to me previous review, the author of the chapter on films, states that HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) were Universal's last two Frankenstein movie. I guess the author never heard of the equally valid HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945), which featured the Monster.
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Richard Masloski
2.0 out of 5 stars FRANKENSTEIN FACTS MATTER!!!
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2018
Does anyone know what they are writing about anymore??? Or do they write just to write and sell a book? I am finding more and more errors in books of late than at any other time in my long reading life!

On the very first page of this book - as mentioned by Russell Hamblet in his own fine review - we are completely misinformed as to where the inception of FRANKENSTEIN occurred! It was NOT "on the shore of Lake Como in Italy" as stated in the book's very first sentence, but rather at Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Also, Mary Shelley was not yet married to Percy Shelley, as the opening sentence further claims. It was most disconcerting to discover that the erroneous introduction to the book was written, alas, by the very two gentlemen who edited the entire book! There is no excuse for this. Then to add insult to injury this fake news is repeated on page 1 of the book! Then one page later - in the very first essay of the book writ by an Associate Professor of English of all things! - we are falsely informed still again that the birth of FRANKENSTEIN happened at a large house in Italy. The author of this essay also tells us that Mary wrote the tale "as an entertainment for a circle of artists and writers, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley." The trouble is that there was no "circle of artists and writers" present, but for Byron and Percy and Byron's doctor Polidori. Apart from the two editors (one of whom is a professor emeritus, the other a 'filmmaker and independent scholar') and the first essayist writing about things they don't accurately understand, doesn't anyone else even proof-read manuscripts anymore?

Let's jump to an another essay, this one writ by one of the book's editors, the "filmmaker and independent scholar" and we learn more fake news in that Ilona Massey played one of the 'mad scientists' in the Universal Frankenstein films. But truly, she did not. We also are told that Mae Marsh was Mae Clarke who played Elizabeth in the 1931 FRANKENSTEIN. But truly, she wasn't. The "filmmaker" essayist wonders why the Monster in the Rankin/Bass MAD MONSTER PARTY is "inexplicably called 'Fang' - but would know if he'd dug a bit to find that Phyllis Diller, who plays the Monster's mate, called her own real-life husband Fang. It is an inside joke that went over the essayist's head, it seems. We are also told that Murnau's 1922 NOSFERATU was "an authorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's DRACULA. But...it wasn't.

In yet another essay about Frankenstein films written by a "teacher of media arts, a screenwriter, writer, producer, director, director of photography"and even more, we are blatantly told with respect to Hammer films that they were "serious endeavors with truly memorable acting performances from Christopher Lee as Baron Victor Frankenstein and Peter Cushing as the Monster." Tragically, this polymath of an essayist must have gone through the Looking Glass, as he got the actors and their roles backwards! Lastly, it is claimed that the hunchback in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN was an "evil" one. Trouble is, he wasn't.

As for the rest of the book, several of the essays repeat themselves and the editors introductions to each section of essays are totally redundant and pure page filler. In his interview Mel Brooks talks a lot of pretentious nonsense about YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and fails to credit SON OF FRANKENSTEIN which was a bigger influence on his film than the Whale ones and also believes that the birth of Mary Shelley's Monster took place in Italy. Some of the essays are so far out that the pages of this slim book could truly have been devoted to something more germaine to the ostensible topic at hand. Do we really need pages and pages of plugs for the TV series EUREKA and five photographs from it to boot? Or plugs for PENNY DREADFUL and the ridiculous I, FRANKENSTEIN?

All things considered, the book seems to have been stitched together with less patience and perseverance than had Dr. Frankenstein when he began work on his Creature.
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