The Monsters

Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler wrote an interesting background story about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein entitled The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein

I’m currently reading it and can already recommend it. Quite fascinating. These are some really screwed-up people! Fun, though.

For example, you may be familiar with the term antimacassar, a washable cloth placed on furniture. Turns out that Lord Byron provided the need for this invention. He used Macassar oil to make his hair gleam. Lord Byron was the Mick Jagger of his day, famous throughout the western world for both his beauty and his poetry. So all the young rakes imitated his dress and style… including his use of Macassar oil. Fastidious housewives were forced to protect their furniture from this greasy stuff by placing cloths, anti-macassars, on the backs of the chairs and sofas. The use of Macassar oil, a palm-oil based concoction that most likely had no connection to Makassar (a city in Indonesia), passed long before the usage of the little cloths.

Read the book to discover the characters of all the people central to the writing of the book. Mary Shelley’s infamous parents, her step-sister with whom she unwillingly shared her husband’s affections, Thomas Jefferson Hogg – Shelley’s best friend with whom he tried, unsuccessfully, to intimately share all the ladies in his life, Lord Byron – who issued the challenge on that ‘dark and stormy night’ that all present write a ghost story, and Dr. Polidori who rose to the challenge by writing the world’s first vampire story, The Vampyre.

A book about the writing of Frankenstein

I have found a neat website, http://www.goodreads.com, where you can list the books you’re reading, see what other people are reading, and get some good recommendations of things to read. While I was there, I did a search on Frankenstein and found what sounds like a very interesting book. It’s entitled, “The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein.” I’ve reserved it at the library; I’ll let you know what I think of it. I am pasting the review from GoodReads below:

On a dark and stormy night in 1816, on the shore of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Lord Byron, famed English poet, challenged his friends to a contestto write a ghost story. The assembled group included the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; his lover (and future wife) Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; Marys stepsister Claire Claremont; and Byrons physician, John William Polidori. The famous result of that night was Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, a work that appeared in print two years later and has retained its hold on the popular imagination for almost two centuries. Less well-known was Polidoris work, the first vampire novel. It too would inspire a legend (and most directly Bram Stokers Dracula), as well as many nightmares. And the evening begat a curse, too: Within a few years of Frankensteins publication, nearly all of those involved met untimely deaths. THE MONSTERS tells the riveting story of the real-life characters surrounding the creation of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. It reveals not just the origins of two of the most famous monsters in popular culture, but the monstrous nature of the young people who gathered on the shore of Lake Geneva. Gripping and spooky, THE MONSTERS is unforgettable.

Welcome to Real Reads!

Real Reads is a literature discussion group associated with Real Life Community Church in Vancouver WA. Our first book is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – the original 1818 version rather than the 1831 version most commonly available. The church will provide all people who attend with a book. Our first meeting will be Friday, May 16th at 7:00 PM at the church office (the church website provides maps and directions). Please join us. We’re going to have a great time!

If you wish to attend but don’t have a book yet, please contact me or call the church office. We’ll get you set up. If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to contact me. My e-mail is rodweston @ gmail.com. The church office phone number is 360.254.2374 or you can e-mail lynelle @ seekreallife.com