2008-08-30 Science and desire

Inevitably dated by style and pace, not to mention a somewhat heavy-handed way with analogy, this remains a touchstone for gothic and speculative fiction. Any horror comes purely from the internal dialogues of Victor Frankenstein himself, and from the taunts of his creation, rather than from the kind of vivid and bloody description that is the mark of more contemporary scary stuff.

Some interesting questions rear their heads about science and desire, inception and revenge, not to mention some seemingly unintended ones - for a book by the daughter of an early anarchist and an early feminist, both women and politics are surprisingly absent. But worth a look.