I was very disappointed when I read Dracula as a teenager, expecting a thrilling vampire novel, then finding myself reading people's letters to each other. I reread it recently and really enjoyed it. Frankenstein I thought was OK, and the monster was far more interesting than the stupid, lumbering thing made from body parts in the movies.
Not only that, but she had recently lost her baby and, if I remember right, after he drowned she placed his body in front of the fireplace and 'chafed' it, trying to bring life back to it. All that anguish went into the story (though it did come out bogged down and ponderous). Honestly I was always a lot more into the story of the night she conceived Frankenstein than with Frankenstein itself.
Considering that was the night the then unknown writers invented the modern day vampire (Polidori) and started Frankenstein (Mary), and the two famous writers Lord Byron and Percy Shelley couldn't think of anything to write. Or something, nothing good anyway. Does sound fun though, that night in Switzerland.
Early 1600s. A lot of science/astronomy (of the day) included in it (including science that was contrary to conventional thinking of the time and turned out to be true). You can read some of it here in Latin and English: https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/somnium/
They tried to make the most faithful adaptation in the 90's—Mary Shelley's Frankenstein produced by Coppola and directed by the star Kenneth Brannagh. In many ways it was the closest, and had DeNiro as the monster. I like a lot about it, but it's a very strange movie. It was the followup to Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, which he also tried to make as faithful as possible to the original source material. Lol, when I first read your post I thought you were implying that the real monster was Dr. Frankenstein (a very strong case can be made). I think my favorite parts of that version were the bracketing segments at beginning and end, with the ship stuck in the ice in the Arctic Sea. And the Bride. She was pretty awesome.
It's sort of included as the intro to the original Bride of Frankenstein movie, the one with Elsa Lanchester as the Bride (and as Mary Shelley). I haven't seen that movie in a long time, I don't remember how accurate it was or how good, but I remember liking that part.
I think Dr Frankenstein is the 'villain' to be honest. I know it's the point, he couldn't take responsibility, but I even find him either arrogant or stupid. I'm not saying that's an issue with the book or character - he's just really flawed. But I think 'hero' and 'villain' to be overly simplistic when looking at it. It's a pretty scathing critique of ... well, what it's talking about, haha.
Here it is: I was wrong, it doesn't depict that fateful night of ghost stories, but does sort of refer back to it. And it is Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley.
Has anyone read M.R. James? He's I suppose a classic, but not talked about as much as he probably deserves.
Oh, he definitely is the villain! But he didn't start off to be. In one sense he represented science uncoupled from morality, delving into regions it shouldn't (creation of life, which is God's domain). But he was also a stand-in for Mary herself, so driven by anguish to bring her child back to life she would glady have sold her soul to the devil to accomplish it. They really got that aspect right in the Coppola version. They really make you identify with Victor's motivation, and then you see what that 'dark obsession' is doing to him.
Picked up a copy of Clark Ashton Smith quite recently. Just a small Penguin paperback collection of his stories and poems. Oh wow you can see it. And other writers' influences. The Last Incantation is pure Lovecraft, The Uncharted Isle is very Poe, but I kept getting the impression Smith's heart was really in his prose poems and poetry to be honest.
He was a contemporary of Lovecraft (though younger, I think). I have not read his poetry. If you haven't read Ramsey Campbell, he's probably considered one of the Deans of UK horror at this point. I am pretty sure he's still alive. He had an early collection in the style of Lovecraft and early works are also influenced by both MR James and Arthur Machen.
I think he was younger, yeah - can't believe I've only just recently read anything by him. Campbell and Machen are two I really need to try.
Yes, and then The White People. I must confess I don't even know who M R James is, need to remedy that. One of my favoreites of the early Weird writers is Algernon Blackwood. You can read his short story The Willows in the Look Inside of The Weird. You can read all the ones that are blue in the Contents, including one by M R James called Casting the Runes. I know what I'll be doing for a while now...
I like Blackwood a well. The Willows is a great story. William Hope Hodgson was also an influence of Lovecraft. Probably best know for The Night Land (here: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10662/pg10662.html). You can also check out his work The Boats of the Glen Carrig, which forms the basis for a great Ahab album of the same name:
