The Bicentenary Of Frankenstein

Frankenstein was first published two hundred years ago today.

(Among other things, this demonstrates that the Christmas book market wasn’t up and running yet. Jane Austen’s final novel Persuasion got its first limited print run out by December 17th 1817.)

The metaphorical weight of Frankenstein gave a catchy name to Mad Science, Science Gone Wrong, Messing With The Natural Order and a bunch of other ideas like it - though also failing to take responsibility for one’s mistakes, which is the real sin.

The last century of its fame was helped in no small part by Boris Karloff in James Whale’s film, but by that point it was already over a century old.

And it’s still running. The Dark Universe might not be getting a new version of The Bride Of Frankenstein next year, but in the last decade we’ve seen The Frankenstein Chronicles, Second Chance aka The Frankenstein Code,I, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s Army, Frankenweenie, The National Theatre’s adaptation directed by Danny Boyle, Dark Harvest: Legacy Of Frankenstein, and the second edition of Promethean: The Created...