Red Rattle books www.redrattlebook.co.uk

Frankenstein Galvanized is a new expanded edition of the classic novel that also contains 8 new essays.

"Topics include vegetarianism, the role of Robert Walton as the narrator, Frankenstein as an immature artist, the birth myth, and the significance of medical science and the corpse to the novel. We also begin the essays with a very clear history of the Gothic novel prior to Frankenstein and there is information about the life of Mary Shelley."

Classic gothic tale plus commentary with the 1818 edition text. Previously I read [Frankenstein] in the Penguin classics format which was the 1831 edition text but with notes on what had changed in the back. The book is edited and introduced by Claire Bazin and with 8 essays of commentary and analysis following the main text. Since I read the book fairly recently I didn’t re-read but did enjoy the commentary. The articles are mainly scholarly but not in a dry way, even the one about Locke. My favourites were the article about the philosophical vegetarian stance that Shelley shared with her monster and the article by Howard Jackson bringing together Frankenstein, Elvis and Orson Wells. The article about collecting body parts was very familiar to me having read about the resurrectionists before but it’s a good introduction if you don’t know the subject. The first article does a good job of explaining what “Gothic” is and the history prior to Frankenstein and Samia Ounoughi’s essay on the role of the narrator was fascinating, something I’d not consciously noted when reading the book previously but something that I will be paying attention to next time I read it. I didn’t really like the essay about Frankenstein and the workers (in a Marxist sort of way) thinking it was a bit of a crowbar topic and the last essay about it being an allegory of birth and post partum depression also didn’t really resonate with me.

Overall – A handsome edition with much thought provoking discussion, if you need to get an e-book version I’d recommend this one. ( )