Monsters presents two of the most celebrated works of British novelist Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and Mathilda, on the two-hundredth anniversary of Frankenstein’s publication. Even two centuries after their publication, these books remain as riveting as ever. The eerie representation of manmade life forms in Frankenstein still fascinates us, as numerous contemporary retellings attest. The lesser-known Mathilda, meanwhile, tells the story of a different kind of monstrosity: that of a father’s incestuous love for his daughter. Both of these works express our fascination with monsters through distinctly different figures, a father and a scientifically engineered human, endowed with characteristics derived from society’s most deep-seated fears and taboos
In addition to complete texts of the novels, Claire Millikin Raymond provides an extensive introduction and invaluable notes that summarize dominant interpretation of each work along with a bibliography of recommended books and articles relating to Frankenstein and Mathilda.
