Mary Shelly's Frankenstein came to her in a vision. She "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." The most famous and compelling horror story of all time, Shelly's masterpiece has been adapted, translated, and dramatized so often that we rarely return to the original story as told by the author. The 19-year-old Shelley was part of a gifted group of writers who, housebound in a Geneva villa due to bad weather, passed the summer of 1817 reading ghost stories - and writing their own. Curl up on a lonely evening with the lights low and a storm raging outside and listen to actress Julie Harris read the original novel - a classic evocation of the macabre.
For more informative lectures about this work, don't miss A Study Guide to Frankenstein.