Rediscovering Frankenstein

So this is today's countdown to Halloween post. I don't know if it is because I discovered last summer in the town of Marlow the home of the Shelleys, where Mary Shelley completed the writing of Frankenstein, but it seems that this year's countdown to Halloween is marked by a rediscovery of the novel. I haven't re-read it yet, but when I was in Montreal, I stumbled in a second hand bookshop upon a book of essays about the myth of Frankenstein: Frankenstein (Figures mythiques). It has become part of my Halloween reading list. And it is a fascinating rediscovery. I am maybe one of the few people who first discovered the story not through its many loosely based adaptations, but directly from the original novel, when I was a young teenager. Like I mentioned here, I don't consider Mary Shelley's most famous to be pure horror story. In fact, I think it is more supernatural tragedy with a hint of what would later be called science fiction (although I'd argue that the scifi elements are completely involuntary). Still, because of the icon that the creature and his creator has become, because it is an essential part of Halloween imagery, it deserved to be mentioned here. Still, I recommend to everyone to discover the novel in its own terms, forgetting the many adaptations.