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How to Read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Patreon)

Published:
2021-10-25 17:30:56
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

We have a special video lecture on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein coming out this week to celebrate Halloween.

We'll also have a video responding specifically to the discussion sparked by Frankenstein, along with our Book Club Halloween Show involving a delightful mixture of famous and patron-penned ghost stories read aloud (so as to appease the angered spirits).

So, in preparation for our deep-dive into Frankenstein, here's a quick video with ten tips to get the most out of your reading.

We're talking about the Romantic Sublime, the Gothic tradition, the 1818 vs 1831 edition, how the tale was born, Milton's Satan, Prometheus, dodgy doctors, and much more.

Video Timestamps:

  • 0:00 how to read Frankenstein
  • 0:30 reading the Romantic Sublime
  • 1:20 the Gothic literary tradition
  • 2:00 1818 vs 1831
  • 2:30 how the tale was born
  • 3:30 Milton's Satan and Prometheus
  • 4:45 the Frankenstein of pop culture
  • 5:58 write your own horror story
  • 6:45 reading pace for Frankenstein
  • 7:40 dodgy doctors at the gallows
  • 8:15 Mary Shelley's tragic life
  • 8:45 the Romantic critical tradition
  • 9:33 discuss the book with friends

Discussion 

1) Frankenstein is firmly rooted in our collective cultural consciousness. What is your first thought/feeling when you hear 'Frankenstein'? 

2) What is the scariest novel you have ever read? If you'e already acquainted with Mary Shelley's gothic tale, would you rank it up there?

3) What scared the Romantics? The Victorians? And what scares you?

Happy Halloween Season, everybody!

Files

Previews only

How to Read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (10 Tips)

📚🎃 Read Frankenstein with Hardcore Literature: https://www.patreon.com/posts/mary-shelleys-57935620 ———————————— 🎙️ https://open.spotify.com/show/70IZA24... (Subscribe to the Hardcore Literature Podcast on iTunes & Spotify) 🏫 https://hardcore-university.teachable... (Hardcore University, Exam Preparation Courses) 👕 https://hardcore-literature.creator-s... Hardcore Literature Merch ✍🏼 https://benjaminmcevoy.com My Personal Website ———————————— Hardcore Literature Lecture Series ———————————— 📔Contents Page: https://cutt.ly/CmNhRY3 🚂 Anna Karenina: https://cutt.ly/vmNhAWv 💀 Crime and Punishment: https://cutt.ly/rmNhFt5 ⚓ Persuasion: https://cutt.ly/amNhX7b ☕ In Search of Lost Time: https://cutt.ly/5mNh8oD ⚔️ The Hero’s Journey: https://cutt.ly/UmNjrE3 🌸 Siddharta: https://cutt.ly/YmNjuzi 🎠 Don Quixote: https://cutt.ly/cmNjoK4 ❤️Shakespeare’s Sonnets: https://cutt.ly/nmNlW7V 0:00 how to read Frankenstein 0:30 reading the Romantic Sublime 1:20 the Gothic literary tradition 2:00 1818 vs 1831 2:30 how the tale was born 3:30 Milton's Satan and Prometheus 4:45 the Frankenstein of pop culture 5:58 write your own horror story 6:45 reading pace for Frankenstein 7:40 dodgy doctors at the gallows 8:15 Mary Shelley's tragic life 8:45 the Romantic critical tradition 9:33 discuss the book with friends

Comments

Sunny

Reading this for the 3rd time. Seeing the new movie inspired me! Excited to revisit this story

Florian Pesantes

I’ve never read Shelley’s Frankenstein. Surely I know the picture of Karloff’s heavily made up steeple head. It never compelled me to read or watch any of the films or graphic novels that seem to had been around in my childhood. I was as little impressed with the topic as with vampire stories. But your video, Ben, here, as usual arouses my curiosity and desire to know what you know, to like what you like. Especially after having visited the Keats and Shelley House in Rome. I just wonder when I should find the time for a binge read. Probably around carnival. It doesn’t matter, does it? Halloween is a pretty new concept to me, anyway. It came over from the US only in recent years and pumpkins is to me a moderately well loved foodstuff. In the meantime I could manage to get into the poems you mentioned. And maybe visiting Cologny at Lake Geneva, not sure if one can visit Villa Diodati. I just watched the episode of “Black Mirror”, the first of series two, where the young widow recovered her dead husband via AI and I wonder how this plot relates to “Frankenstein”. Anyway the weather here in Kanton Zurich is right now crisp, a dark blue sky and yellow and red leaves don’t really evoke a creepy atmosphere.

Pablo
>>70514188

I enjoyed the Black Mirror series, very dystopian. Charlie Brooker has a very interesting mind and provides a cleaver take on things moving them in unexpected trajectories. I recall that episode, and that's an very thought-provoking contrast to the current discussion.

Anonymous
>>70514188

Geneva was the setting for a few books I can think of: Under Western Eyes, Hotel du Lac, and Dr Fischer of Geneva. It's definitely not the first place I think of when I think of monsters, but it has that imposing landscape Ben was talking about. Or at least I think it does. I was only 9 when I passed through there. I would love to see the Lake again.

hardcoreliterature
>>70514188

I’m very jealous of your visit to their house in Rome. I believe you may already be incredibly familiar with the story given your literary and cultural knowledge. If you don’t mind a little spoiler or two, you could well check out the video even without reading and still get a sense of the novel :) I love pumpkins, and ate many kinds when living in Japan. I have one sitting ready to carve! That AI episode was incredibly sad and creepy - one of my favourites. As Pablo says, Charlie Brooker has a very interesting mind!

Florian Pesantes

Pablo, Don, Benjamin. Thank you so much for your responses. All the more I’m looking forward to watching the series in connection with the book, week by week. I had just one extra-session today not to fall behind the honourable members.

Florian Pesantes
>>70514188

Benjamin, I think the Keats and Shelley House receives in-house researchers. The society is chaired by a Brit with a Spanish name. You might consider to google that. Should you be going there a stop at Zurich/Winterthur would be an obligation!