The Classics

 Every winter/late spring, I make it a habit to read a literary "classic." One of those books I've heard about and maybe seen the movie, but never read...until now. This year's selection was Mary Shelley's, "Frankenstein." I confess, I knew very little, just that a guy creates a monster. Oh, and the Boris Karloff portrayal of the monster from the movies. But, as with pretty much all of the books I read now, it was on the shelf at the thrift store and on a whim I bought it.

SPOILER ALERT- I'm about to give away the plot and the darkness. If you want to save that for yourself, skip to the next bolded part.

Here's my review: it's great. It's not easy reading and it's dark, but it's a great story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. “These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle and at another as all that can be conceived of noble and godlike.”

Dr. Frankenstein does a little rebelling against his father and studies some weird science and creates an oversized being that he brings to life. He then is disturbed by what he's done and leaves the being. The monster (generally referred to as 'the fiend' by Dr. Frankenstein) is actually really not a monster until he's mistreated by humanity. He enters a village, is attacked by the villagers, and is driven out. He seeks shelter at a farm, where he learns about love and loss from the farm family, but when he approaches them, he's attacked. What does he learn? That being different is a curse and that humans can be cruel.

So, he seeks out revenge on Dr. Frankenstein. How? He kills his little brother and frames his innocent cousin for it. Later, he speaks with the door and demands a companion. At first, the doctor agrees and starts his work, but then has concerns that he'll be creating a bunch of monsters that will be terrible for civilization and he backs out of his deal.

The monster becomes enraged! He kills the doctor's best friend and promises, "I'll be there on your wedding night." Frankenstein shares his tale with his father, who is so upset he dies. Frankenstein, whether through ignorance or his own shortcomings, assumes the monster means to kill him. He doesn't! What's worse? While the doctor is pacing the halls waiting, the fiend kills the bride. Holy smokes, that's dark. Frankenstein then spends the rest of his life chasing the fiend trying to kill him.

Wow! That's dark. I'm not going to kill you, but rather everyone you care about. Ms. Shelley dreamt (seriously, she says she woke up out a dream with the idea) this up at the ripe age of 18. She caught onto themes of diversity and acceptance long before today's "woke" movement. Well played. So, thumbs up to "Frankenstein." 

Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging!

Then I started thinking more about "the classics" and the authors. I now fully appreciate the unique challenge that crafting a story/book is. I have a laptop and the internet. I can literally research anything on Earth from my dining room rather than a six-month voyage to another country. I can pose questions to experts via text or email and have an answer in minutes or hours rather than months. Side note- I am hoping someday to be able to justify "travel to Europe for research" as a business expense!

And editing? I highlight something and move it. Then maybe move it back. Write an entire paragraph I know is garbage only to easily delete it later. Even a blog post is easier on my laptop. Spellcheck- got it. Grammarly- got it. Merriam-Webster.com- got it. Not to say that writing is easy, but certainly it there's something to be said for modern conveniences.

I envisioned Ms. Shelley/other early authors writing their manuscript out by hand, having someone else edit, by hand, then repeating several times. Later, a typewriter would replace the pen, but still. Ugh. My respect for authors of the pre-computer era now knows no bounds.

My other classics over the past few years in no particular order.

- "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. It was strange reading a story we all know so well.
- "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe. Parts were great, then stuff that would be edited out today.
- "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie. It's done well enough, just not my cup of tea.
- "Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles" by Arthur Conan Doyle. He tells a good story.
- "1984" by George Orwell. The granddaddy of all dystopian stories! 
- "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. Brilliant technique. Difficult to read, but brilliant.
- "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. From hell's heart, I stab at thee!