Frankenstein

Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a
Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers
of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor
Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and
bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being
from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at
the creature’s hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-
innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge
against his creator, Frankenstein. Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an
important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only
tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about
the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What
does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How
far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ
donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more
relevant than ever.