Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (Full Version)

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus frames its horror within a bleak Arctic voyage, where an ambitious explorer encounters Victor Frankenstein, a man undone by the experiment that made him famous. As Victor recounts his rise and collapse, the novel becomes a tense meditation on the desire to master nature—and the human cost when intellect outruns conscience.

More than a Gothic thrill, Frankenstein is a profound study of isolation, moral obligation, and the yearning to be seen. Shelley asks who is truly monstrous: the being stitched into life, or the society—and creator—that abandons him. Its nested letters and testimonies give the story a chilling intimacy, while its questions about scientific power, parenthood, and accountability remain urgently modern. This landmark of Romantic-era fiction helped shape the foundations of science fiction and continues to challenge readers to face the responsibilities that accompany creation.

• Listeners who want a suspenseful, atmospheric classic that also wrestles with ethical questions about knowledge and power
• Fans of Gothic and early science fiction interested in the roots of modern “mad scientist” mythology
• Book-club and classroom listeners looking for a rich text on alienation, empathy, and moral responsibility

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) was an English novelist of the Romantic era and the daughter of philosopher William Godwin and pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. She wrote Frankenstein while still a teenager, developing its central idea during the famous 1816 “year without a summer” among writers near Lake Geneva. Married to poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, she later edited and preserved his work while pursuing her own career in fiction and travel writing. Shelley’s writing is celebrated for uniting Gothic intensity with philosophical depth, and Frankenstein remains her most enduring achievement.