Textual Origins of Mary Shelley’s Monster: The Grave Misconception

A few months ago, a monster came to town.

It started as a small disturbance south of Jamaica and grew as it headed north, picking up speeds and moisture, and finally developing into a hurricane as it ascended the eastern seaboard of the United States. Along the way, it earned the name Sandy, but that changed when it veered inward and merged with another storm blowing from the west. After that, the monster earned a new name.

I spent some quality time with that storm while driving north to The World Fantasy Convention last fall, plowing through its driving rain as I followed its path through Pennsylvania and on into Ontario – and all the way I heard people on the radio calling it Frankenstorm. Why? Because it was no longer just one storm. It was a collection of storms that had combined to form one raging entity – sort of like the Frankenstein monster, right?

Actually, no. Not if we’re talking about the creature as presented in Mary Shelley’s novel. That creature, as a close investigation of the text will show, is not a combination of parts. . . .

[Read more at Dissections: The Journal of Contemporary Horror.]