Truth more interesting than theory

The publication of Charles Robinson's interesting The Original Frankenstein has given more people the opportunity to discuss the niggling claim that Percy Bysshe Shelley is more the creator of the monster and the myth than his wife-to-be. I appreciate the comment in today's Independent online review, in which James Grande says that “the theories that deny Mary Shelley's authorship are much less interesting than the true story behind Frankenstein.” Grande imagines the two of them passing a manuscript back and forth in bed. I like the image.

Continuing the row over authorship

Charles Robinson's new volume, The Original Frankenstein, published by Cambridge's Bodleian Press and noted here about a month ago, has sparked new discussions about who wrote Frankenstein. It is a debate not quite as interesting as those over Shakespeare or Homer, since there is only one alternative answer to Mary Shelley, and that's Percy Bysshe. It is also a debate that conjures up the same voices, in particular that of independent scholar John Lauritsen, who is PBS‘s unending champion and one of the few, if not the only, person who outright claims that Mary's husband wrote -- not helped her with -- the novel. Both Lynda Pratt in The Times and Jennifer Howard in the Chronicle of Higher Education took the opportunity to explore the issue again.

Vote green in the coming election

It has been an amusing intersection, the Halloween season and the U.S. election, spawning wonders like this one: JibJab - Frankenstein for President!


A special thank you to Pierre Fournier of Frankensteinia for finding this gem.