DJABC Frankenstein Recap

Yesterday, the lovely, well-caffeinated members of our dear Dark Jane Austen Book Club sat down in front of their computers to chat. We read Mary Shelley’s esteemed classic Frankenstein and discussed its merits as a piece of fiction. 

Photo courtesy of MonkeyMyshkin and Flickr Creative Commons

Of course, as all good book clubs do, we ranted on its idiosyncrasies and praised its freakishness. And we have yet to figure out how to appease the Google Plus gods so one or more of us doesn’t freeze frame looking drunk, asleep, or stoned.

Would you please get on that Google gods? We promise cookies!

But nevertheless, we prevailed and did get a good discussion going about the monster and Frankenstein and the terrors of the mind and….oh sorry, I almost fainted. What makes this book terrifying is the internal nature of the conflicts. Frankenstein torments his inner psyche. The monster acts out his inner rage. Essentially, we cannot escape what is inside of us, and maybe, this is why Lord Byron peed his pants when he read it.

We did want to bring a few points up for discussion in the comment section today. So tell us what you think about the following:

  1. Does the monster exist, or is it a figment of Frankenstein’s mental illnesses?
  2. Why create something so ugly? If you can make it, at least make it pretty.
  3. What do you think about the books the Monster read? Good choices or adding to his mania?
  4. Is Frankenstein gay? Doesn’t want to create a female and his wedding night is death to him?

, , , ,