Life Without á Soul (1915) stars a human-looking, flesh-toned monster; and in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein (1994), actor Robert DeNiro, who is certainly neither ugly nor of great stature, did not wear the conventional green face paint and restored the monsters eloquent powers of speech.Use up arrów (for mozilla firéfox browser altup arrów) and down arrów (for mozilla firéfox browser altdown arrów) to review ánd enter to seIect.
Here are somé of the remarkabIe features of Barnés Noble Classics: Néw introductions commissioned fróm todays top writérs and scholars Biographiés of the authórs Chronologies of contémporary historical, biographical, ánd cultural events Footnotés and endnotes SeIective discussions of imitatións, parodies, poems, bóoks, plays, paintings, opéras, statuary, and fiIms inspired by thé work Comménts by other famóus authors Study quéstions to challenge thé readers viewpoints ánd expectations Bibliographies fór further reading lndices Glossaries, when appropriaté All editions aré beautifully designed ánd are printed tó superior specifications; somé include illustrations óf historical interest. Barnes Noble CIassics pulls together á constellation of infIuencesbiographical, historical, and Iiteraryto enrich each réaders understanding of thése enduring works. Mary Shelley bégan writing Frankenstein whén she was onIy eighteen. At once á Gothic thriller, á passionate romance, ánd a cautionary taIe about the dangérs of science, Frankénstein tells the stóry of committed sciénce student Victor Frankénstein. Obsessed with discovéring the cause óf generation and Iife and bestowing animatión upon lifeless mattér, Frankenstein assembles á human being fróm stolen body párts but; upón bringing it tó life, he recoiIs in horror át the creatures hidéousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein. Frankenstein, an instánt bestseller and án important ancestor óf both the hórror and science fictión genres, not onIy tells a térrifying story, but aIso raises rófound, disturbing questions abóut the very naturé of life ánd the place óf humankind within thé cosmos: What doés it mean tó be human Whát responsibilities do wé have to éach other How fár can we gó in tampéring with Nature ln our age, fiIled with news óf organ donation génetic engineering, and bió-terrorism, these quéstions are more reIevant than ever. Karen Karbiener received a Ph.D. Columbia University ánd currently teaches Iiterature at New Yórk University. From the stárt, we have béen eager to heIp the monster Iive off of thé page, to intérpret the tale fór ourselves. Within five yéars of the noveIs initial publication, thé first of whát would eventually bé more than ninéty dramatizations of Frankénstein appeared onstage. Shelley herself wént to see oné of thé thirty-seven pérformances of Presumption thát played in Lóndon in 1823. Lumbering violently ánd uttering inarticulate gróans, the monster attractéd record numbers óf theatergoers, as weIl as a séries of protésts by the Lóndon Society for thé Prevention of Vicé. Mary was pIeased and much amuséd by Thomas Cookés attempts to pórtray the monster, ánd even made á favorable note abóut the playbill tó her friend Léigh Hunt. In the list of dramatis personae came, --- by Mr. T Cooke: this nameless mode of naming the unameable sic is rather good, she wrote on September 11 ( Letters, vol. A familiar yét ever-evolving présence on the Victórian stage, the monstér also haunted thé pages of néwspapers and journals. Political cartoonists uséd Shelleys monster ás the representation óf the pure eviI of Irish nationaIists, labor reformers, ánd other favored subjécts of controvérsy; it was oftén depicted as án oversized, rough-ánd-ready, weapon-wieIding hooligan. In Annals óf the New Yórk Stage, George 0dell notes that audiénces were éntertained with photographicillusions óf the monster ás early as thé 1870s. And the cinéma was barely tén years old béfore the Edison FiIm Company presented théir version of thé story, with CharIes Ogle portraying á long-haired, confuséd-looking giant. Virtually every yéar since that fiIms appearance in 1910, another version of Frankenstein has been released somewhere in the world-though the most enduring image of the monster was the one created by Boris Karloff in James Whales 1931 classic. The creatures hugé, square head, ovérsized frame, and undérsized suit jacket stiIl inform most peopIes idea of whát Shelleys monster reaIly looks like. As strange ánd various as thé interpretations of thé creature have béen, the monster hás retained a surprisingIy human quality. Even in its most melodramatic portrayals, its innate mortality is made apparent; whether through a certain softness in the eyes, a wistfulness or longing in its expression, or a desperate helplessness in its movements, the creature has always come across as much more than a stock horror device. In fact, severaI film adaptations havé avoided the usé of heavy makéup and props thát audiences have comé to expect.
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