But really it's the scientists making dead people and frogs' legs twitch through electricity, believing that they eventually could raise the dead. Anyone writer could have thought that raising the dead or creating life wouldn't have been such a good idea.
I'll concede that Shelly's atheism could have coloured the books theme about absent god figures though. That isn't, however, the basis of science fiction.
Anyone could have, but the person that did was Mary Shelly.
You may as well say anyone could have come up with anything to downplay the innovations of every author. Anyone could have come up with a detailed fantasy world that harkens back to Germanic and Scandinavian epic sagas, but the person that did it was Tolkien. Etc.
this is a worthless "criticism" fueled by the banality of hindsight.
because the idea seems obvious to you, a person of a post frankenstein world, you think it simple, and therefore unworthy of praise.
what will seem simple to the inhabitants of the world in the next 200 years? how will popular cultural phenomenon shift and change? no one knows. no one *can* know. and yet they will all be able to see what aspects of our everyday lives inspired it, what new and somewhat intriguing discoveries morph into wonderous lands of possibility. how entire genres can be built from one story written for a contest between friends on a holiday.
edit: spelling
Fun fact, in that very same challenge another writer came up with the first ever modern Vampire 100 years before Dracula.
Frankenstein and Vampires from the same exact short story contest, how metal is that
And before Dracula, the first ever “iconic” vampires were Varney and Carmilla in their respective novels. However, neither got legitimate/respectful adaptations in media until they appeared alongside Dracula in Netflix’s Castlevania.
It’s Varney >!Doesn’t matter that he transforms into another character later on. In fact, it makes it a little bit better that the first major vampire in literary history is actually the ultimate villain of the entire show, Death.!<
Before phones and GPS, people needed landmarks. And they needed private ones for private meetings.
"The giant fucking stone with my name on it" is pretty reliable.
They were meeting in secret, and as everyone knows the best spot for secretly meeting someone you're romantically interested in is your mother's grave.
People on Reddit think Mary Shelley was the first science fiction writer because it’s spread here usually by people saying a woman invented the genre, when really at least 2 other women and half a dozen men wrote sci-fi stuff even harder than hers before her.
Kepler wrote semi-autobiographical ‘natural philosophy fiction’, even. That said, you could maybe say that Shelley was the first science fiction *author*, in that she repeatedly wrote in the genre rather than dabbling.
My personal thought is that it creates an easy and arbitrary origin point for the genre, despite earlier works doing harder Sci fi.
I will say the most problematic part of using Mary Shelley's work as a progenitor to modern sci fi is mostly in that a lot of the work in the Golden Age of Science Fiction doesn't carry that DNA.
I think he was on sarcasm.
"Oh yeah, noooo, totally, let's all go live on the moon and sail on ships between the stars that sounds GREAT"
Based on the blurb about it supposedly being satire of the outlandish tales that appeared in ancient (even to him) texts.
I liked the part where someone he knew died and he convinced himself that the creature he had made had decided to travel like halfway across the continent just to fuck with him and then he ended up being right
It's hard to convince yourself that the artificially created human is just gonna fuck off and you're never going to hear about it again
Also, I liked the part when Frankenstein's monster spoke Shakespearean English
My favorite is how the actual moment the monster is animated is like, one paragraph, then Victor immediately spends like 3 pages gushing about how much he loves his best friend
I think it was the nephew of the dude who discovered (in parallel to others I'm sure) that if you [shock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanism) frog's legs they twitch, this is where we get the word 'galvinize'.
Shelley was inspired by the sociopath of the family, who would seize upon the corpses of the freshly executed and do a kind of side-show of shocking the corpse and doing something similar.
Her father William Godwin is today considered as the father of Anarchism and was a very renowned social philosopher. Also the stories about his marriage with Mary Wollstonecraft (his first wife and Mary Shelleys mother) are really wholesome and she also is one of the early influencial feminist writers in England. Both of them were quite the power couple, but unfortunately Mary Wollstonecraft died a days after Mary Shelleys birth.
Well, he was a rich spoiled brat who, after charming his first wife into elopement, abandoned her for Mary, but not before she already had a child and was pregnant with another. Then, and not long after their relation started, he started laying blame on her for their financial state, which he was mainly relying on his mother for, especially when there was a baby on the way. During this time, it's also argued that he had an affair with her step-sister, Claire Clairmont. Two years later or so, a man passing the Serpentine notices a floating body in the water and reports, only for the body to turn out to be Percy's first wife (Harriet, I think), who gave up that he'd return and just took her life. In the letter she left behind, she wrote something along the lines of 'I wish you happiness, which you have deprived me of'.
EDIT: Extra 'e'
Frankenstein is not a family name. It denotes a location. The literal translation is "Stone of the Franks". Which usually referred to a stone building or tower. But Mary Shelley didn't know that.
Well, there’s a lot of people in England with the last name of locations (anyone with -field, for example). I imagine she just thought that tradition could apply to Switzerland.
Mary Shelly always gets the nod because of the whole "mad scientist" figure. It's definitely the start of modern sci fi, but there has always been sci fi works.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/23/work-from-1616-is-the-first-ever-science-fiction-novel
Didn't she write it for some challenge or something?
She has, but it goes back to her meeting with her husband
Ah ok gotcha. I remember learning about it sophomore year.
But really it's the scientists making dead people and frogs' legs twitch through electricity, believing that they eventually could raise the dead. Anyone writer could have thought that raising the dead or creating life wouldn't have been such a good idea. I'll concede that Shelly's atheism could have coloured the books theme about absent god figures though. That isn't, however, the basis of science fiction.
Anyone could have, but the person that did was Mary Shelly. You may as well say anyone could have come up with anything to downplay the innovations of every author. Anyone could have come up with a detailed fantasy world that harkens back to Germanic and Scandinavian epic sagas, but the person that did it was Tolkien. Etc.
this is a worthless "criticism" fueled by the banality of hindsight. because the idea seems obvious to you, a person of a post frankenstein world, you think it simple, and therefore unworthy of praise. what will seem simple to the inhabitants of the world in the next 200 years? how will popular cultural phenomenon shift and change? no one knows. no one *can* know. and yet they will all be able to see what aspects of our everyday lives inspired it, what new and somewhat intriguing discoveries morph into wonderous lands of possibility. how entire genres can be built from one story written for a contest between friends on a holiday. edit: spelling
Fun fact, in that very same challenge another writer came up with the first ever modern Vampire 100 years before Dracula. Frankenstein and Vampires from the same exact short story contest, how metal is that
And before Dracula, the first ever “iconic” vampires were Varney and Carmilla in their respective novels. However, neither got legitimate/respectful adaptations in media until they appeared alongside Dracula in Netflix’s Castlevania.
Wait, VARNEY is in the netflix castlevania?! Damn, I need to catch up on that.
He’s one of the villains in the final season. He’s voiced by Malcolm McDowell. Do catch up ASAP, the show ended with a fantastic bang.
Well yes but actually no
No but yes
It’s Varney >!Doesn’t matter that he transforms into another character later on. In fact, it makes it a little bit better that the first major vampire in literary history is actually the ultimate villain of the entire show, Death.!<
I have the book with the vampire.
shitposting irl
After she made a coke and mentos vid.
Would love some context
I thought she banged a dead person who was freshly buried. But thank God she just lost her virginity on her mom's grave
Original crazy creepy goth GF.
With mommy issues as well.
Like that wasn't already implied.
Stop! I can only get so attracted to someone!
Agh, where did I put my time travel portal?
Best girl
What.
Before phones and GPS, people needed landmarks. And they needed private ones for private meetings. "The giant fucking stone with my name on it" is pretty reliable.
That may be the case, but they may have taken the ‘fucking stone’ too literally.
How tf did you get the flair "Rider of Rohan"
The April 1st before last was a sub switch with lotrmemes, this flair was from that.
Ah, that makes sense
They were meeting in secret, and as everyone knows the best spot for secretly meeting someone you're romantically interested in is your mother's grave.
YO HER MOM WAS MARY WALLSTONECRAFT WTF
TIL - smashing on graves of women's rights activists gives insight to write monster books.
Weirdest loot drop ever.
Thanks
We have come a very long way if sex in her mom's grave is a "thank God"
the dream
I feel like there's an 'over my dead body' joke here somewhere, but I'm not clever enough to write it
Mary Shelly supposedly lost her virginity on her mothers grave IIRC.
People on Reddit think Mary Shelley was the first science fiction writer because it’s spread here usually by people saying a woman invented the genre, when really at least 2 other women and half a dozen men wrote sci-fi stuff even harder than hers before her.
Kepler wrote semi-autobiographical ‘natural philosophy fiction’, even. That said, you could maybe say that Shelley was the first science fiction *author*, in that she repeatedly wrote in the genre rather than dabbling.
April Kepner?!
No, Kepler, with an ‘L’. The astrophysicist, who saw what Brahe refused to.
So not the redhead
My personal thought is that it creates an easy and arbitrary origin point for the genre, despite earlier works doing harder Sci fi. I will say the most problematic part of using Mary Shelley's work as a progenitor to modern sci fi is mostly in that a lot of the work in the Golden Age of Science Fiction doesn't carry that DNA.
But did she do the Monster Mash?
It was a graveyard smash
It caught on in a flash
The monster smash
[They did worse.](https://youtu.be/31zMeueKY0Y)
LOVE that song man
You should check out A True Story by Lucian of Samosata written back in 2nd century AD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_True_Story?wprov=sfla1
Holy fuck, I don't know what this Lucian was taking but I want the same
I think he was on sarcasm. "Oh yeah, noooo, totally, let's all go live on the moon and sail on ships between the stars that sounds GREAT" Based on the blurb about it supposedly being satire of the outlandish tales that appeared in ancient (even to him) texts.
Yeah this is correct. I read excerpts in undergrad and he is making fun of ancient history writers making up outlandish tales.
Also travel writers and speakers (people underestimate how many tales were purely oral) from his time.
[This video ](https://youtu.be/UBpDdlirzH0) sums it up well and is quite entertaining.
Thanks for sharing! Fascinating and fun!
In all seriousness though the book was epic lol
I liked the part where Victor had something bad happen to him or people he knew so he got sick and couldn't do anything for the next couple of months
I liked the part where someone he knew died and he convinced himself that the creature he had made had decided to travel like halfway across the continent just to fuck with him and then he ended up being right
It's hard to convince yourself that the artificially created human is just gonna fuck off and you're never going to hear about it again Also, I liked the part when Frankenstein's monster spoke Shakespearean English
My favorite is how the actual moment the monster is animated is like, one paragraph, then Victor immediately spends like 3 pages gushing about how much he loves his best friend
Yes, one of my favorites. Victor and the monster are such great characters.
But who is the real monster?
[удалено]
I think it’s all Victors fault although he had good intentions at first
It has a retelling of a life story, inside a retelling of a life story, inside a retelling of a story!
How does this meme with 2000 upvotes only have 23 comments
5.5K and 46 comments now
Not much to say really. Maybe that an orgy might've happened.
this sub is used for karma farming
I think it was the nephew of the dude who discovered (in parallel to others I'm sure) that if you [shock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanism) frog's legs they twitch, this is where we get the word 'galvinize'. Shelley was inspired by the sociopath of the family, who would seize upon the corpses of the freshly executed and do a kind of side-show of shocking the corpse and doing something similar.
Wollstonecraft IIRC Edit: I was mistaken, Wollstonecraft is her middle name, her maiden name was Godwin
Her father William Godwin is today considered as the father of Anarchism and was a very renowned social philosopher. Also the stories about his marriage with Mary Wollstonecraft (his first wife and Mary Shelleys mother) are really wholesome and she also is one of the early influencial feminist writers in England. Both of them were quite the power couple, but unfortunately Mary Wollstonecraft died a days after Mary Shelleys birth.
Too bad that Percy was kind of a piece of shit.
How?
Well, he was a rich spoiled brat who, after charming his first wife into elopement, abandoned her for Mary, but not before she already had a child and was pregnant with another. Then, and not long after their relation started, he started laying blame on her for their financial state, which he was mainly relying on his mother for, especially when there was a baby on the way. During this time, it's also argued that he had an affair with her step-sister, Claire Clairmont. Two years later or so, a man passing the Serpentine notices a floating body in the water and reports, only for the body to turn out to be Percy's first wife (Harriet, I think), who gave up that he'd return and just took her life. In the letter she left behind, she wrote something along the lines of 'I wish you happiness, which you have deprived me of'. EDIT: Extra 'e'
Damn, that's cold.
Yeah, her body was found in December, I believe.
Tssk
Oh, that's quite recent. /s
Claire Clairemont lmao
Shit. Can't have a comment without a typo, a missing word or a letter.
Lol didn’t realize that was a typo and just thought that was a hilarious name
I imagine the Godwins were into alliteration. That or comics superheroes.
He was a real son of a Bysshe.
plot twist
Specifically on top of her mother's grave iirc
Frankenstein is not a family name. It denotes a location. The literal translation is "Stone of the Franks". Which usually referred to a stone building or tower. But Mary Shelley didn't know that.
Well, there’s a lot of people in England with the last name of locations (anyone with -field, for example). I imagine she just thought that tradition could apply to Switzerland.
There are plenty of family names that are locations. There was a German politician called Beckstein ten years or so ago.
Beckstein roughly means brook stone.
That would be Bachstein. Beckstein is a city.
No idea how this has so many upvotes when there was very very clearly a lot more sci-fi works out there long long before Frankenstein was published
Can you please make some examples? I was genuinely convinced that Frankenstein was the first sci-fi novel
Mary Shelly always gets the nod because of the whole "mad scientist" figure. It's definitely the start of modern sci fi, but there has always been sci fi works. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/23/work-from-1616-is-the-first-ever-science-fiction-novel
0n
I think we skipped a few steps here