Primary Text: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818)

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)



Excerpts from Sir Walter Scott's review in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine:

"[Supernatural] fiction has been sometimes applied to the purposes of political satire, and sometimes to the general illustration of the powers and workings of the human mind. Swift, Bergerac, and others, have employed it for the former purpose, and a good illustration of the latter is the well known Saint Leon of William Godwin. In this latter work, assuming the possibility of the transmutation of metals, and of the elixir vitae, the author has deduced, in the course of his narrative, the probable consequences of the possession of such secrets upon the fortunes and mind of him who might enjoy them. Frankenstein is a novel upon the same plan with Saint Leon; it is said to be written by Mr Percy Bysshe Shelley, who, if we are rightly informed, is son-in-law to Mr Godwin; and it is inscribed to that ingenious author.

[. . . ]

"Upon the whole, the work impresses us with a high idea of the author's original genius and happy power of expression. We shall be delighted to hear that he has aspired to the paullo majorica; and, in the meantime, congratulate our readers upon a novel which excites new reflections and untried sources of emotion. If Gray's definition of Paradise, to lie on a couch, namely, and read new novels, come any thing near truth, no small praise is due to him, who, like the author of Frankenstein, has enlarged the sphere of that fascinating enjoyment."

Scott, Walter. Remarks on Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus, a novel. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 2 (20 March/1 April 1818): 613-620. Rpt. in Romantic Circles. Web. 4 Oct. 2014.