The Afterlife of Frankenstein: A Century of Mad Science, Automata, and Monsters Inspired by Mary Shelley, 1818-1918

by David Sandner (Editor)

Overview

“Fear of age and death often creeps coldly into my heart; and the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life. Such an enigma is man—born to perish—when he wars, as I do, against the established laws of his nature.” –Mary Shelley, “The Mortal Immortal”

Dr. Frankenstein’s monster is one of the most iconic figures in English literature, popularized through decades of writing, film, and comedy. But even before the invention of film, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein profoundly impacted scores of writers, gathering force for the genre that would ultimately become what we know as science fiction.

In this anthology, scholar of the fantastic David Sandner explores the first hundred years of Frankenstein’s influence. This collection of short stories and excerpts from work published between 1818 to 1918 demonstrates what a pioneering myth Frankenstein has always been—from the very day when lightning first struck and it opened its eyes on the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941360798
Publisher:	Lanternfish Press
Publication date:	11/14/2023
Series:	Clockwork Editions , #5
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	499,348
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.04(d)

About the Author

Dr. David Sandner is a Mythopoeic Award-nominated scholar of the fantastic and teaches at California State University, Fullerton. His books include Critical Approaches to the Fantastic, 1712-1831; Fantastic Literature: A Critical Reader; and Philip K. Dick: Essays of the Here and Now, among other books and essays. He digitally mapped Mary Shelley’s other SF work, The Last Man, for Space(s) of the Fantastic and founded an online database, The Frankenstein Meme, to study Shelley’s literary influence. As a writer, he publishes fiction and poetry and is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and the Horror Writers Association. Learn more at davidsandner.com.

Table of Contents

Part One

Of Creatures and Monsters

“The Vampyre” (1819), John William Polidori

“Fragment” (1819), Lord Byron

Excerpt from Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein (1823), Richard Brinsley Peake

“The Monster Made by Man” (1825), Anonymous

Excerpt from The Mummy! (1827), Jane Webb

“Goblin Market” (1862), Christina Rossetti

Part Two

Byronic Heroes and Sympathetic Monsters

“Roger Dodsworth: The Reanimated Englishman” (1826), Mary Shelley

“The Mortal Immortal” (1833), Mary Shelley

Excerpt from Wuthering Heights (1847), Emily Brontë

Excerpt from Mary Barton (1848), Elizabeth Gaskell

Excerpt from Great Expectations (1861), Charles Dickens

Excerpt from The Sport of the Gods (1902), Paul Laurence Dunbar

Part Three

Mad Science!!!

“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (1845), Edgar Allen Poe

Excerpt from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), Robert Louis Stevenson

“The Monster-Maker” (1887), W. C. Morrow

Excerpt from The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), H. G. Wells

“A Thousand Deaths” (1899), Jack London

“The Third Drug” (1908), Edith Nesbit

Part Four

From Automatons to Robots

“The New Frankenstein” (1838), Anonymous (attributed to William Maginn)

Excerpt from The Steam Man of the Prairies (1868), Edward S. Ellis

“The New Mother” (1882), Lucy Lane Clifford

“The Dancing Partner” (1893), Jerome K. Jerome

“A Wife Manufactured to Order” (1895), Alice W. Fuller

“The Lady Automaton” (1901), E. E. Kellett

Editorial Reviews

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been a literary lightning bolt, striking the imagination of other writers since its first publication in 1818. Sandner’s massively important anthology shows just how influential Shelley has been on her successors, single-handedly shaping much of the science fiction and horror genres as we know them today. … Educators and genre fans alike will appreciate having [The Afterlife of Frankenstein] on their shelf, so they can bring the creature back to life in its various incarnations, again and again, at will.”—Michael Arnzen, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Grave Markings and Proverbs for Monsters

"The Afterlife of Frankenstein is a treasure trove of truly remarkable stories. This entertaining and illuminating anthology presents a fascinating portrait of English and American literature in the wake of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and is not to be missed by anybody interested in the literature of the fantastic.”—Jacob Weisman, World Fantasy Award-winning editor of Invaders and The New Voices of Fantasy

From the Publisher

Educators and genre fans alike will appreciate having this title on their shelf, so they can bring the creature back to life in its various incarnations, again and again.”

Michael Arnzen

Offers new insights not only into Shelley’s novel but also into the radical transformations—social, intellectual, and technological—of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”

Brian Attebery

The Afterlife of Frankenstein offers a new approach to the profound influence of Shelley’s pivotal novel by focusing on how its themes and tropes are developed by writers over the next century. A compelling introduction and unexpected selections make this a refreshing approach to Victorian and Edwardian literature and early science fiction.”

Kij Johnson

Sandner demonstrates how the figures of the mad scientist and his rebellious creation took hold in the century after Shelley’s novel appeared, shaping popular images of the scientist, offering material for fantasies of power, and sparking doubts about scientific progress.”

John Kessel

The Afterlife of Frankenstein is a treasure trove of truly remarkable stories. This entertaining and illuminating anthology presents a fascinating portrait of English and American literature in the wake of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and is not to be missed by anybody interested in the literature of the fantastic.”

Jacob Weisman