FRANKENSTEIN: FROM A GOTHIC NOVEL TO A MYTH ABOUT THE HUMAN CONDITION

Abstract

This paper focuses on the reception of Frankenstein in order to trace the transition from its reading as a Gothic story in the early nineteenth century to our contemporary awareness that this is a myth about the human condition. The essay begins by outlining the primary reactions to the anonymously published novel in 1818 and its dramatisation staged in 1823. It then goes on to contrast those to the political commentaries in the foreword accompanying the first Bulgarian translation of the text (1981) and to the interpretative spin offered by twenty-first-century adaptations of Frankenstein for the stage.