Mount Holyoke College

History 257

Frankenstein Meets Multimedia:

A Cultural History of Mary Shelley's Novel

Robert Schwartz

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein	Mary Shelley	Gender, Family, and the Domestic Sphere
Philosophers and Poets	Literary and Historical Background	Science
Rousseau	Locke	Wordsworth

Miscellaneous

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

A Frankenstein FAQ

http://www.watershed.winnipeg.mb.ca/Frankenstein.html
Keywords: Frankenstein FAQ, history.  Recommended

Ariadne's Cyber Loom - Classic Web Design - Home of Mary Shelley's Private Frankenstein Musical

http://www.netaxs.com/~kwbridge/
Keywords: Ariadne Cyber Loom Classic Web Design Mary Shelley Private Frankenstein Musical History Recommended

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley

http://virtual.park.USA.edu/~232/mws.html
Keywords: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley Frankenstein. Recommended
Description: Mary Godwin's Remonstrance and excerpts from Godwin 1818 FRANKENSTEIN OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Here follows parts of the Preface written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary Shelley's account of the origins of the novel appeared in the Preface to her revised 1831 edition (see the Norton critical edition, pp. 163-179).

PREFACE: THE event on which this fiction is founded has been supposed, by Dr. Darwin, and some of the physiological writers of Germany, as not of impossible occurrence. I shall not be supposed as according the remotest degree of serious faith to such an imagination; yet, in assuming it as the basis of a work of fancy, I have not considered myself as merely weaving a series of supernatural terrors. The event on which the interest of the story depends is exempt from the disadvantages of a mere tale of spectres or enchantment. It was recommended by the novelty of the situations which it develops; and, however impossible as a physical fact, affords a point of view to the imagination for the delineating of human passions more comprehensive and commanding than any which the ordinary relations of existing events can yield. I have thus endeavoured to preserve the truth of the elementary principles of human nature, while I have not scrupled to innovate upon their combinations. The Iliad, the tragic poetry of Greece- Shakespeare, in the Tempest/and Midsummer Night's Dream- and most especially Milton, in Paradise Lost, conform to this rule; and the most humble novelist, who seeks to confer or receive amusement from his labours, may, without presumption, apply to prose fiction a license, or rather a rule, from the adoption of which so many exquisite combinations of human feeling have resulted in the highest specimens of poetry. The circumstance on which my story rests was suggested in casual conversation. It was commenced partly as a source of amusement, and partly as an expedient for exercising any untried resources of mind. Other motives were mingled with these as the work proceeded. I am by no means indifferent to the manner in which whatever moral tendencies exist in the sentiments or characters it contains shall affect the reader; yet my chief concern in this respect has been limited to avoiding the enervating effects of the novels of the present day and to the exhibition of the amiableness of domestic affection, and the excellence of universal virtue. The opinions which naturally spring from the and situation of the hero are by no means to be conceived as existing always in my own conviction; nor is any inference justly to be drawn from the following pages as prejudicing any philosophical doctrine of whatever kind. It is a subject also of additional interest to the author that this story was begun in the majestic region where the scene is principally laid, and in society which cannot cease to be regretted. I passed the summer of 1816 in the environs of Geneva. The season was cold and rainy, and in the evenings we crowded around a blazing wood fire, and occasionally amused ourselves with some German stories of ghosts, which happened to fall into our hands. These tales excited in us a playful desire of imitation. Two other friends (a tale from the pen of one of whom would be far more acceptable to the public than anything I can ever hope to produce) and myself agreed to write each a story founded on some supernatural occurrence. The weather, however, suddenly became serene; and my two friends left me on a journey among the Alps, and lost, in the magnificent scenes which they present, all memory of their ghostly visions. The following tale is the only one which has been completed. Marlow, September, 1817.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, U Penn project

http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~prp/archive/franken/
Keywords: Mary Shelley Frankenstein U Penn project. Recommended
Description: PENN Reading Project Archive - 1993 University of Penn: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Project: includes full text of 1831 edition; but link to Rutgers fails

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus HTML 1818 ed.

http://www.boutell.com/frankenstein/
Keywords: Frankenstein or Modern Prometheus HTML. Recommended
Description: Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus http://www.boutell.com/frankenstein/ This introduction and all hypertext are Copyright (c) 1995 by M. L. Grant. All images are Copyright (c) 1995 by Thadd Brophy. All rights reserved. Boutell.Com, Inc.

Electronic Texts From CCAT: Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, 1818 ed.

http://www.vmedia.com/restricted/ira/data/sect14/list10.htm
Keywords: Electronic Texts CCAT Frankenstein. Recommended
Description: Link to Access:gopher://ccat.sas.upenn.edu:3333; here is the 1818 text in plain text files by chapter.

Shelley's Frankenstein

http://www.georgetown.edu/irvinemj/english016/franken/franken.html
Keywords: Shelley Frankenstein History Recommended

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - Literary Sources

http://www.netaxs.com/~kwbridge/franken.html
Keywords: Mary Shelley Frankenstein Literary Sources History Recommended

 

Mary Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

http://www.netaxs.com/~kwbridge/maryshel.html
Keywords: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein History Recommended

Mary Shelley (1797 - 1851)

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~mcneil/shelleym.htm
Keywords: Mary Shelley Frankenstein. Recommended
Description: Mary Shelley (1797 - 1851) [Kim Woodbridge] *note* Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus [text, University of Michigan]; 1831 edition .

Gender, Family, and the Domestic Sphere
J. Schuetz: Mary Shelley's The Last Man

http://prometheus.cc.emory.edu/panels/4A/J.Schuetz.html
Keywords: Schuetz Mary Shelley Last Man; revisionist argument: The Man: Monstrous Worlds Domestic Communities and Masculine Romantic Ideology Recommended

The New Child: British Art and the Origins of Modern Childhood

http://www.uampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibits/newchild/
Keywords: British art 18th century childhood:  Recommended
Notes: Excellent source of images on the theme of children, child development, family. Good example of links to background material of interest. The significance of the domestic sphere is well illustrated here. Note the pictures of Joseph Wright of Derby for representation of philosophy and science ca. 1760s. These are classic pictures expressing optimism in science and progress.
Description: New Child British Art Origins Modern Childhood; UC Berkeley from 1995 The Age of Innocence The Georgian Family and the Parental Role Childbirth and Nursing Child's Play, Toys, and Recreation The Child Learns: Academic, Religious, and Moral Education Children and Charity: The Double-Edged Didactic Sword Children, Class, and Countryside The Family and Sentiment When Children Aren't Children

The family in Western Europe, c 1500-1914.. (biblio)

http://indigo.stile.le.ac.uk/~sgj/STILE/t0000019.html
Keywords: family Western Europe bibliography. Recommended

Science

WWWVL History of Science, Technology and Medicine - Overview

http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/hstm/hstm_ove.htm
Keywords: WWWVL History Science Technology Medicine Overview Recommended

Events In Science, Mathematics, and Technology - Version 3.0

http://www.gsu.edu/other/timeline.html
Keywords: Events Science Mathematics Technology Version Recommended

Beginner's Guide: Table of Contents

http://www.kaiwan.com/~lucknow/horus/guide/tc1.html
Keywords: Beginner Guide Table Contents Science History. Recommended

Images from the History of Medicine (IHM)

http://oli.lhc.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/oli
Keywords: Images History Medicine IHM.. Excellent source for historical images.

Literary and Historical Background

VoS English Literature: Victorian

http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/shuttle/eng-vict.html
Keywords: English Literature Victorian Recommended
Description: Voice of the Shuttle (UC Santa Barbara) for Victorian English Literature. Excellent starting page for the 19th century: GENERAL RESOURCES AUTHORS, WORKS, PROJECTS SELECTED SOCIAL ISSUES & WRITERS COURSE SYLLABI & TEACHING RESOURCES (on English Courses page) CRITICISM & CRITICS (GENERAL) (for criticism of specific authors, see appropriate sections) JOURNALS LISTSERVS & NEWSGROUPS CONFERENCES & CALLS FOR PAPERS

VoS English Literature: Romantics

http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/shuttle/eng-rom.html
Keywords: VoS English Literature Romantics Recommended

VoS English Literature: English Literature Page

http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/shuttle/english.html
Keywords: VoS English Literature. Recommended

VoS English Literature: 18th Century

http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/shuttle/eng-18th.html
Keywords: VoS English Literature Century. Recommended

Gothic Literature

http://www.gasou.edu/aix2/English/gothic.htm
Keywords: gothic Literature Recommended

Eighteenth-Century Studies

http://english-www.hss.cmu.edu/18th/
Keywords: Documents Novels plays memoirs treatises and poems of the period are kept here in some cases influential texts from before 1700 or after 1800 as well Recommended
Description: Novels, plays, memoirs, treatises and poems of the period are kept here (in some cases, influential texts from before 1700 or after 1800 as well), along with modern criticism. We also recommend Jack Lynch's archive and the UCSB Voice of the Shuttle archive. Age of Enlightenment in the Paintings of France's National Museums Amezquita, AlexRousseau and Locke: The General Will (1992) Art, Architecture, Landscape Gardening at Jack Lynch's Eighteenth-Century Resources on the Net Artists of the 18th Century: UC Berkely's exhibition and essay collection The New Child: British Art & the Origins of Modern Childhood 1730-1830" (1995)

Dictionary of Sensibility

http://www.engl.virginia.edu/~enec981/dictionary/g_intro.html
Keywords: Dictionary of Sensibility 18th century terms English Recommended
Description: This hypertext offers a new approach towards understanding the language of eighteenth-century sensibility. It provides an atmospheric view of the multiple connotations of the terms of that language. Rather than attempting strict definitions, this project offers a tool for recognizing the multivalence of such words as "virtue," "enthusiasm," and "community." Our hypertext collects excerpts from primary texts of sensibility and scatters them among twenty four key terms. We imagine the sensible reader exploring these passages to understand the different vocabularies of the period.

 

Philosophers and Poets

Sources of Inspiration for Mary Shelley

http://www.netaxs.com/~kwbridge/inspirat.html
Keywords: Sources Inspiration Mary Shelley Recommended
Description: Link to John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Wordsworth

Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works

http://www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/wordsworth/index.html
Keywords: Wordsworth Complete Poetical Works Texts Recommended

TCG's Wordsworth Page

http://www.usd.edu/~tgannon/words.html
Keywords: TCG Wordsworth's page Recommended

Rousseau

Rousseau - worship of nature

http://members.aol.com/Heraklit1/rousseau.htm
Keywords: Rousseau worship nature Recommended

Philosophers : Rousseau

http://www.trincoll.edu/~phil/philo/phils/rousseau.html
Keywords: Philosophers Rousseau Recommended

Modern Political Theorists Machiavelli to Rousseau

http://swift.eng.ox.ac.uk/jdr/moder1.html
Keywords: Modern Political Theorists Machiavelli Rousseau Recommended

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~mcneil/rouss.htm
Keywords: Jean-Jacques Rousseau Recommended

ILTweb: Study Place: Rousseau, Jean Jacques

http://daemon.ilt.columbia.edu/academic/digitexts/rousseau/bio_rousseau.html
Keywords: ILTweb Study Place Rousseau Jean Jacques Recommended

Texts by Rousseau

http://un2sg1.unige.ch/www/athena/html/swissaut.html
Keywords: Documents ROUSSEAU Jean-Jacques: Discourse on Inequality 2nd part text in English at VT WSU Recommended

Locke

Search John Locke's An Essay concerning Human Understanding

http://www.arts.cuhk.hk/Philosophy/Locke/echu/search.html
Keywords: Search John Locke Essay concerning Human Understanding. Recommended

John Locke

http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/religion/locke1.html
Keywords: John Locke. Recommended

John Locke

http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/users/cstahmer/cogsci/locke.html
Keywords: John Locke. Recommended

ILTweb: Study Place: John Locke

http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/academic/digitexts/locke/bio_JL.html
Keywords: ILTweb Study Place John Locke. Recommended

Early Modern Europe: Philosophy

http://history.hanover.edu/early/philosop.htm
Keywords: Early Modern Europe Philosophy Locke Rousseau Smith Hume Recommended
Description: Short sketches with links to texts and sites on Bacon, Locke, Rousseau, Smith, et al. From Hanover College.

Miscellaneous

Directory of Web Sites Image Banks

http://media.macm.qc.ca/banquima.htm
Keywords: images art imagebases films National Gallery
Description: Links to image collections and image banks, including the French postcard collection

British Romanticism

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~scat0385/images/contents.gif
Keywords: romanticism Shelley's at Chamonix.
Description: texts, gothic, contexts, geography, bookmarks: valuable introduction, is advertised to appear on a CD: British Romanticism on CD

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein	Mary Shelley	Gender, Family, and the Domestic Sphere
Philosophers and Poets	Literary and Historical Background	Science
Rousseau	Locke	Wordsworth

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