I had seen Young Frankenstein many years back, and my first question after reading this piece is, "where the Hell did Igor even come from?" Also, why is Dr. Frankenstein in college as a student and not an old, crazy scientist? Anyway. I suppose before I read Mary Shelley's version, I just assumed the story to be... timeless? What a concept; man makes monster. My better guess has always been that it had always existed in concept. This was a beautiful book (or, rather, ebook for me), and I thought the development of humanity was entirely interesting, particularly since it isn't as played up in various spin-offs. The use of the captain as a framing device was also novel to me. Clearly the story has been so warped and contorted from telling to telling that it has somewhere along the lines lost all semblance of what it once was. I am glad, to say the least, that I did read the first telling.It's interesting how the Frankenstein monster (not "Frankenstein," contrary to popular belief) was devoid of description. He is larger than the average man and indeed a composite of varying human parts, but no stitches across the forehead, no bolts in the neck, no flat head, no none of that. It's sort of just left up to the imagination. Also interesting is that the monster isn't a bumbling beast, but rather quite sentient, rivaling the good doctor (hardly, haha) in philosophical matters. From a piece of philosophy and conjecture, it becomes a piece about revenge and significance, and from there it resumes philosophy with a macabre and dread that can only be represented in horror works. However. This piece doesn't really otherwise read as a horror. It's a piece that really makes the reader think. It's not something filled with dread, gore, and the like (... for the most part!), but rather, focuses on the story itself. It's more of a piece of art than it is the stupidity of what I know as horror (I flat-out refuse to watch the new Piranha 3D movie) or the silliness I've known as Frankenstein (Mel Brooks only, of course). All-in-all, an interesting foray into the world of what is to come.
