The annotated Frankenstein

The large format and lurid jacket suggest this book is for the coffee table rather than for academic use. But this is a serious work of interpretation. Wolfson (Princeton) and Levao (Rutgers) offer the most extensively annotated edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in print, a book that serves the educated but nonspecialist reader. Their introduction provides the biographical and historical background of the novel's production and touches on most major schools of interpretation. The text itself is that of the 1818 edition, with Shelley's 1831 Introduction and selected variants from the 1831 edition in an appendix. The large pages are generous with white space; the main text appears in a column printed in black ink, and the editors' annotations appear in another column in brown ink. Dozens of illustrations, ranging from small black-and-white drawings to full-page color reproductions, not only enrich the contexts (with portraits, maps, scientific drawings, and so on) but chronicle Frankenstein iconography from the 1831 frontispiece through the latest Hollywood movies. Undergraduates will benefit most from the contextual and interpretive annotations, but more advanced readers will appreciate Wolfson's and Levao's thorough exploration of the text and its contexts. Summing Up: Essential. All readers; all levels. J. T. Lynch Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark

Wolfson and Levao, professors of English at Princeton and Rutgers, respectively, revivify the original 1818 version of Shelley's classic in this illuminating annotated text. Beginning with a thoroughly researched introduction to the author's life and the "life" of Frankenstein, Wolfson and Levao draw parallels between the novel's themes and the losses and turmoil that plagued Shelley. Moving along, their commentary draws from an abundance of criticism, focusing primarily on the novel's allusions to Paradise Lost, Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and the myth of Prometheus. At a more local level, the duo dutifully notate Shelley's ingenious use of language and her husband's edits. All this, plus historical and literary contextualization, revised passages from the 1831 edition, and reproductions of relevant artworks and movie stills make this version of the canonical classic an impressive addition to the study of Frankenstein. While ideal for students of English, this book is accessible enough for anyone desiring a deeper reading of the novel, and does just what a well-annotated work should do, shedding a bright light not only on the text in question, but also on its historical moment and literary forebears. 98 color illus. (Oct. 31) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.