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Frankenstein

The introductory notes on the context of the novel are now posted. Please refer to the notes if you've been absent. This past week, I have been covering the introduction of the book (vii-xxi). Your homework for Monday, now that you have the book in hand, is to read the first 50 pages.

The novel begins with a series of letters from Robert Walton - an explorer trying to become the first man to reach the North Pole - written to his sister, Margaret Seville. He describes the landscape, his crew, and his emotions and ambitions.

On this journey, he encounters a man on a sled who has is half-dead from traveling across the ice; this man is Victor Frankenstein, who then proceeds to tell the story of how he got there. The narrators are "nested" like Russian dolls.

Please consider the following as you read the first 50 pages:
  • Parallels between the two main narrators
  • References to Enlightenment vs. Romantic ideals
  • References to the Sublime, and to Nature, in general


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