Frankenstein published - January 1, 1818

On this day in 1818, Mary Shelley's debut novel, "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus," was first published. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey y'all, Happy New Year. I'm still at home,
but I am excited to bring you the first episode
of a new decade. Enjoy Today is January one. The

(00:24):
day was January one, eighteen. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or the
Modern Prometheus, was first published at a young age. Mary
had taken an interest in writing stories, but her childhood
and early adult years were tumultuous. Less than two weeks
after she was born, her mother, writer and women's rights advocate,

(00:47):
Mary Wolston Craft, died of pure operal fever. When Mary
was sixteen years old. She eloped with the wealthy writer
Percy Bishe Shelley, who abandoned his wife. She gave birth
to four children, but only one survived to adulthood, and
she miscarried during her fifth pregnancy. In eighteen sixteen, Mary's

(01:09):
sister Fanny Goodwin, as well as Percy's wife, Harriet Shelley,
died by suicide. Mary was inspired to write Frankenstein on
a rainy June night in eighteen sixteen. Eighteen sixteen is
known as the Year without a Summer, since it was
marked by low temperatures high rainfall and crop failures around
the world attributed to the eruption of Mount tom Bora

(01:32):
in the Dutch East Indies. History of a Six Weeks Tour,
a travel narrative by Mary and Percy published in eighteen seventeen,
contains letters written during their time in Geneva during that summer.
In the letters, Mary writes about the dark and rainy
weather her journey through France and Switzerland provided the perfect
setting for writing a Gothic story. Mary was in late Geneva, Switzerland,

(01:56):
with Percy, as well as poet Lord Byron and physician
and writer John Paula Dorri. The group was reading a
French translation of a German book of ghost stories called
Phantasmagoriana at the Villa Diodati, the house where they would
have spirited late night discussions, When Byron suggested they see
who could write the best ghost story. They took on

(02:18):
the challenge. Pouladori ended up writing The Vampire, which was
published three years later, but the competition also marked the
birth of Frankenstein. One night, after one of the group's
philosophical discussions, Mary could not sleep. She later wrote about
the restless night. She said, quote I saw the pale
student of the unhallowed arts. Kneeling beside the thing he

(02:41):
had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a
man stretched out, and then, on the working of some
powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy,
half vital motion. Frightful must it be? For supremely frightful
would be the effect of any human endeavor to my
the stupendous mechanism of the creator of the world. It

(03:04):
was the origin of her story, one about a scientist
named Victor Frankenstein who created an eight foot tall creature
made of the body parts of dead people. Percy encouraged
Mary to turn the story into a novel, and she
finished writing the book by May of eighteen seventeen. Frankenstein
or the Modern Prometheus, was first published anonymously in London

(03:28):
as a three volume novel on January one, eighteen eighteen.
The book is a combination of a Gothic horror story
and science fiction. In it, Frankenstein's nameless monster turns into
a murderer who is tortured by loneliness and rejection. The
first edition of the novel contained a preface written by
Percy Shelley. In fact, when it was published, many people

(03:51):
thought that Percy Shelley had written it. Another edition of
the novel, credited to Mary Shelley and edited by her father,
was published several years later, or in one the first
one volume edition of the book was published. Shelley wrote
several more novels, but Frankenstein is her best known book.
Frankenstein has since become the inspiration for stories about morality,

(04:14):
human hubrists, and scientists, and the implications of their creations.
I'm Eves Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little
more about history today than you did yesterday. Feel free
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(04:35):
d i h C podcast. Thanks again for listening and
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