Frankenstein
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, first published anonymously in 1818 and revised for the widely read 1831 edition, is often called the first modern work of science fiction. Told through nested letters and confessions, it follows the natural philosopher Victor Frankenstein, who animates a creature from lifeless matter and then recoils from his creation, setting in motion their mutual ruin. Written by Shelley before she was twenty, the novel has become an enduring myth of the modern age, probing scientific ambition, a creator's responsibility for what he makes, and the violence bred by isolation and rejection.
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