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Frankenstein

Surprising facts

  • 1/10

    Written at 18

    She was 18. The book was published when she was 20.

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  • 2/10

    Published with no name

    No. The 1818 edition was published anonymously. Her name appeared on the revised edition of 1831.

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  • 3/10

    A volcano made the weather

    The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora cooled the world, and 1816 became the Year Without a Summer.

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  • 4/10

    Two monsters, one contest

    Yes. John Polidori's The Vampyre, published in 1819, came out of the same ghost story contest.

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  • 5/10

    The monster has no name

    No. Frankenstein is the scientist. His creation is never given a name.

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  • 6/10

    The Creature reads Milton

    He finds a copy of Paradise Lost and reads it as if it were true history (Chapter 15). You can listen to Paradise Lost on VoxRead too.

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  • 7/10

    Named after a Greek myth

    The Modern Prometheus points to the Greek myth of Prometheus, who made humans and stole fire for them.

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  • 8/10

    On stage by 1823

    In 1823, as the play Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein. Its success led to a second printing of the novel.

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  • 9/10

    The draft is in Oxford

    Mary's manuscripts of the novel are kept at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

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  • 10/10

    First film: 1910

    In 1910, a short silent film by Edison Studios.

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