Frankenstein

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Hello, and welcome to the Once Again Podcast. We are your hosts, Ashley and Jason. In today's
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episode, we'll be discussing the 1818 novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This was originally
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planned to be in celebration of the spooky season, but due to unforeseen circumstances,
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we are now recording it for National Novel Writing Month. So bring new life into your
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creation, become disgusted with your work and immediately reject it, become shocked
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and horrified at the results of your creation, and enjoy this episode.
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Hello, everyone. I'm going to interrupt here to talk about National Novel Writing Month
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a little bit, NaNoWriMo in its short form. I've been participating in it since like 2007,
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but it's definitely been going on since 2004, 2005, if I remember. It's basically an entire
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month where a lot of people just choose to try and write novels in a month, which amounts
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to 50,000 words. In case you're wondering, that's 1,667 words a day. Yeah, it's a lot.
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Like I said, I've done it a bunch of times. I'm very passionate about it. I know a lot
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of other writers are very passionate about it. Like we get nothing out of doing this.
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It's just for the fun and bragging rights of being like, yeah, I wrote that amount of
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words in a month like crazy person. And I'm sure all my fellow writers out there appreciate
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this being acknowledged that they're doing this right now. We know a lot of people that
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are already stressed out, it's only day two. So come find us at the end of the month. So
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if you follow me, I follow any of us on social media, you might see it. You might see all
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of our craziness, but we're going to read some novels. And they probably all fall within
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that kind of 50,000 word range, to be honest, because that's about 150 to 200 pages. And
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all the stuff we're reading for this month is pretty short, I would say. Yeah. Minus
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the Brittany memoir. That's a little longer, I think. Yeah. I do believe that's closer
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to 300 pages. But well, I listened to it on Audible. It was short on that. So I don't
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know. I listened to most of these on Audible. I've read Frankenstein before. I have it somewhere
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over there. But I listened to it on Audible to refresh my memory about it, which honestly,
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the narrator on the Audible version, Dan Stevens, does a fantastic job. He has very different
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voices for Frankenstein and the creature. And also has a different voice for Walton,
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I think. Yeah. Yeah, I can't remember. But I have it listed later. I have the characters
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listed because I had to keep straight who was who in it. And then the women in the novel
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just have girl voice. A lot of that happens a lot with male voice actors when they have
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a female character. It's just girl voice. But so yeah, Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus
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tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature
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in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Now, the thing about Frankenstein, one of the reasons
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that we were going to do this for Halloween, but we're doing it now not only because it's
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a novel, but what Frankenstein the novel is, is very different from what pop culture thinks
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for it. Yeah. And I know that has a lot to do with the 1932 or whatever movie with Boris,
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whatever his name is, as the as the creature. But that's popular culture, what Frankenstein
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is. Frankenstein is very, he's not a doctor. The experiment is not done at a castle. It's
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very, very, very different. It's like a young student who's like, I think I know what I'm
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doing. Yeah. And mind you, I haven't seen every Frankenstein movie out there because
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there's a billion of them. Evidently, the one with De Niro playing the monster is the
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most true to Mary Shelley's novel. In fact, it's called Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. That
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being said, it does also take liberties with the story. I haven't seen it myself. But evidently,
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it's the closest to the actual novel itself. I have a bit of background information about
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Mary Shelley. I'm going to share that now, I guess. Go right ahead. Mary Wollstonecraft
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Shelley, born the 30th of August 1797, and died the 1st of February 1851. She was an
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English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus in 1818,
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which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the
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works of her husband, the romantic poet and philosopher, Percy Shelley. Her father was
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the political philosopher, William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and women's
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rights advocate, Mary Wollstonecraft, who was also a very accomplished writer in her
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own way. Mary's mother died 11 days after giving birth to her, I believe from scarlet
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fever. She was raised by her father, who provided her with a rich, if informal, education, encouraging
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her to adhere to his own anarchist political theories. When she was four, her father married
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a neighbor, Mary Jane Claremont, with whom Mary came to have a troubled relationship
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with. I'm sorry for all the Marys. It was just a very common name. In 1814, Mary Shelley,
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that is, who was 16 years old at the time, began a romantic relationship with one of
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her father's political followers, Percy Shelley, who was 21 at the time, and also already married.
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Together with her stepsister, Claire Claremont, she and Percy left for France and traveled
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through Europe. Upon the return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy's child. Over
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the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their premature-born
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daughter. They married in late 1816, after the suicide of Percy Shelley's first wife,
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Harriet. In 1816, the couple and Mary's stepsister famously spent a summer with Lord Byron and
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John William Polidori near Geneva, Switzerland, where Shelley conceived the idea for her novel
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Frankenstein. Evidently, there's an actual Castle Frankenstein in Geneva, but she claimed
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not to get the name from that, so I don't know. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for
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Italy, where their second and third children died before Shelley gave birth to her last
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and only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. In 1822, her husband drowned while his sailing
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boat sank during a storm near Varagio. A year later, Shelley returned to
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England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as
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a professional author. The last decade of her life was dodged by illness, most likely
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caused by the brain tumor which killed her at the age of 53. Until the 1970s, Shelley
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was mostly known for her efforts to publish her husband's works and for her novel Frankenstein,
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which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent
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scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Shelley's achievements. Scholars
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have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels which include
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the historical novels Valperga in 1823, Perkin Warbeck in 1830, the apocalyptic novel The
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Last Man in 1826, and her final two novels, The Door in 1835 and Faulkner in 1837. Shelley's
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works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practiced by women in the
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family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic,
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romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated
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by her father, William Godwin. She left out my favorite Mary Shelley fact and I'm so distant.
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You want me to say- You know what I'm talking about. She lost her virginity to Percy Shelley
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on her mother's grave. That's facts in existence. That's scary. The two of them used to meet
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in secret at her mother's grave and that's where she lost her virginity to on top of
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the grave. Yeah, it's very- Yes, it's very morbid. That's something that comes up in
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that. I have the themes of Frankenstein later on after the summary and everything like that.
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For me, the biggest theme is familial relationships and abandonment and everything. When your
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mother passes away and not that you're responsible for it because she was just born, but it is
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what ultimately caused her mother to die because that's just what happened back in the day.
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50% of all births used to end in the mother dying. I imagine she grew- I didn't know Mary
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Shelley obviously, but I imagine she grew up with some abandonment issues and not having
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a good relationship with her stepmother and everything like that and her father being
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a crazy person like he was. Not that all anarchists are crazy, but they mostly are. Let's dive
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into the textual background information that I have here. Shelley started writing the story
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when she was 18 and the first edition was published anonymously in London on the 1st
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of January, 1818 when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which
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was published in Paris in 1821. Shelley traveled through Europe in 1815 moving along the river
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Rhine in Germany and stopping in Gernsham, 17 kilometers for those of you who use the
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metric system or 11 miles like the correct way to use it in the image, away from Frankenstein
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Castle where two centuries before an alchemist had engaged in experiments. She then journeyed
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to the region of Geneva, Switzerland where much of the story takes place. Galvanism and
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the occult ideas were topics of conversation for her companions, particularly for her lover
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and future husband, Percy Shelley. In 1816, Mary Percy John Polidori, thank you, and Lord
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Byron had a competition to see who wrote the best horror story. After thinking for days,
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Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein after imagining a scientist who created life
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and was horrified by what he had made. Though Frankenstein is infused with elements of the
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Gothic novel and the romantic movement, literary critics have argued for it as the first true
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science fiction story. In contrast to previous stories with fantastical elements resembling
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those of later science fiction, the central character makes a deliberate decision and
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turns to modern experiment in the laboratory to achieve his fantastic results. The novel
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has had a considerable influence on literature and on pop culture. It has spawned a complete
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genre of horror films, stories, and plays. Since the publication of the novel, the name
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Frankenstein has often been used erroneously to refer to the monster rather than his creator
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slash father. Then I also have some textual facts here, just some quick ones. The author
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is Mary Shelley. It was published in England. The language was English. The genres include
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Gothic novel, literary fiction, horror fiction, and science fiction. The setting for the story
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is England, Ireland, Italy, France, Scotland, Switzerland, Russia, Germany, all in the late
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18th century. It was published on the 1st of January, 1818, 205 years ago. So this is
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your only spoiler warning for this 205 year old novel. And the publisher was Lackington,
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Hughes, Harding, Maver, and Jones. It was 280 pages. The Dewey decimal number is 823.7.
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And the Library of Congress classification is PR 5397 F7. And as I mentioned before,
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the audible audiobook is narrated by Dan Stevens and has a length of 8 hours and 35 minutes.
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So let's dive into the story. We start off with Captain Walton, and he's the narrator
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of the first two chapters, I believe. And he's setting up that he wants to be a writer,
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but he's not clever enough. It's one of those ways that writers at this time period.
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Yes. And he's also like setting up like, I'm reading to my sister. And he's setting up,
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it's very much a story within a story that we're hearing.
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Epistamol? A series of letters?
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Yes, epistolary.
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Thank you. I couldn't think of what it was called. Oh, it's right here. It's epistolary
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form. Yeah. But you knew right off the top of your head.
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It's a very common form around this time. I mean, Dracula's the same way. A lot of Gothic
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novels are like that. And it's also a way for the writer, this is great, but it's a
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way for the writer to say, hey, I'm not that great of a writer. Here's why it's through
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this character's voice, blah, blah, blah. So if you have, but the narration shifts.
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And while these two opening chapters might be written, not poorly, but more common language,
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Frankenstein uses fancy language when it shifts to him. And then the creature uses even fancier
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language when it shifts to him, narrating the story.
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Also, what I will say like straight off that, this book is so gay, and I did not know that.
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And I was just reading the whole thing.
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The whole looking for a companion thing?
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Yes.
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Is that what you're referring to?
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Because everybody looking for their other males looking for their male companions. They're
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bestest buddies, if you will. And I'm like, I've heard people say this is very like gay
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coded and I'm like, oh, is this coded?
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I don't know what you're talking about. This Walton character who wanted to be a writer,
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but isn't that clever. So he decides to sail on a ship with a bunch of other men and look
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for a companion.
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Where he's lamenting to his sister, like, ah, I need someone. But he doesn't need a
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female. He just needs a male companion.
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Yes. Yeah.
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I have more to say later on the gay agenda. There's a lot of it here. Great for it. Let
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me tell you, that's probably because, you know, I'm pretty sure player Percy Shelley
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was probably also a little swing in both ways.
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I think I couldn't remember if this is true. But I didn't look into it. But I think him
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and Mary Shelley, today we would just call them swingers. Yes. I think that's one of
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the reasons why her stepsister also came with them on their trip throughout Europe, probably.
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If I remember correctly, yes. Yeah. A lot of those romantic era poets. Very free love.
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Yeah. Both ways. Yeah. Preferred male company. They had white, you know, it's a lot of. They
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had upside down pineapples outside their house. Yeah, there was a lot of upside down pineapples
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in that time. Yeah. But yeah, it's very coded in this book, I think that way. Like it's
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very like. It's not expressively said, but man, it's like the pining for I need a companion
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who has similar thoughts to me. Why can't I just meet a man that has similar thoughts
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to me? Men, men nursing other men who are feeling frail and everything. We'll get to
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it. Like honestly, the only person that like pines for a woman is the monster himself.
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Yeah. Everyone else is very like, yeah, I just pine for companionship. Because even
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Victor's relationship with his future bride is more of a of course this is going to happen.
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Oh yeah. He's definitely in love with Cheval. Like that's how it feels. He's like. But Henry.
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Yeah. I love Henry. Yeah. Henry is my companion in life. Yeah. Although there's also a very
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weird line between in the peasant family about. So the old man's playing music that the monster
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talks about the old man's playing music and then he has a line. I can't remember the exact
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thing, but it's something to the effect of the other two characters go off and do what
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they do. But they're also a brother and sister. So it's a little like, oh, what is happening
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with them right now? Like, like they're and that's what makes the monster long for a companion
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of his own, like a female companion. Well, we'll get into it. But so the first two chapters
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are from Walton and they're up in the Arctic. They're kind of in the ship. They're kind
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of trapped by the ice. And while they're trapped, they notice an enormous being riding a sled
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drawn by eight dogs. And they're like, what is that? And like the being disappears as
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quickly as it appeared to them. And then the next day they see a normal sized man with
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only one dog because all the other dogs are about to die. Yeah. And they bring him onto
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the ship and he nurses. He refuses to get on the ship at first too. And like, he's like,
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I don't want to unless you're going further north. And they're like, don't worry, buddy.
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We're not heading back to London yet. Like, we're good. And he's like, great, I'll get
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on the ship. Yeah. And then they're nursing him back to health. And Walton's like, dear
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sister, you'll never believe that he's such a great man. I think like this man is my new
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companion. I'm going to make him my friend. Yeah. And here's the story that he told me.
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And then like the end of his like little section is like, I am a gas. Yeah. Like the story
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is fantastical. I must tell you, sister. Yeah. The gossip train is real. So we then switch
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to Victor Frankenstein and he recaps his life. For a long time, he was the only child of
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his parents. And then they had another child when Victor was much older. And then they
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found a little girl on the street. He was little. Yeah. They basically like found her
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in like some like peasants house and they were like, I like the pretty little girl.
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Yeah. And the parents like, oh, yes, she's not really ours anyway. Yeah. We're just,
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she's adopted by us. And then and basically, parents are like, let us adopt her. She's
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too pretty to be your child. Yeah. And Victor's growing up and everything's perfect in his
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family. It's this wonderful, idyllic setting in Geneva. And Victor is obsessed with philosophy,
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as he puts it. And he wants to study it more. And he goes to university in Germany, I believe.
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I can't remember if it's Germany or England. But he goes to the university and he's studying.
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And when he gets there, he realizes when he's talking to his professors, that all the philosophers
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that he has that he's studied are thousands of years old. And nobody cares anymore. They're
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like, why were you studying math? Yeah. And he's like, okay, so I'll start learning the
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new sciences, but also incorporate it into what I want to do, which is to create life.
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Like that's I want to bring something that was dead back into into living. And he does
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it on worms, I think, first and is successful on it. And then he gets the idea. He's like,
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okay, so what I have to do now is build a giant gigantic body made out of several body
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parts, which is something like, is it all strictly human? We don't really know. Good
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thought. Yeah. He does say before he brings life to the creature that it's the most beautiful
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thing he's ever seen. And then immediately after bringing it alive, he's like, oh, it's
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just get rid of it. And he leaves, he leaves it. He does this in his dormitory. Which is
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the funniest thing. Yeah. It's not a science lab. It's not a castle. Like he does it in
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his dormitory. He he and his reaction is, ew, it's gross. And he runs away. And then
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he walks outside and who is there? But his best childhood friend, Henry Cheval, just
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there because his best friend's like, hey, man, I was what a coinkydink. I'm here to
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try and find you because like not me and your family haven't heard from you in a couple
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of weeks. We were kind of worried. I thought you were dead or something. Yeah. And he's
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like, no, I don't feel well, though. And feints instantly is sick. Yeah. And then they go
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back upstairs and the monsters gone. He's like, okay, whatever. Cool monsters gone.
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Yeah. Screw that thing. Yeah. And Cheval, Henry's spending months taking care of Victor
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and getting him better because he's having fainting spells and he can't get over what
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he did and everything like that. And basically, when he finally does recover, he gets a letter
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from home saying that his brother, William, has died. Murdered. Yeah, it was murdered.
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And he's like, oh, no, that's that's awful. I have to I have to go back home. And like,
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when he gets back home, he sees that the monsters in the woods. Yeah, he realized and he's and
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he's like, oh, my God, it's the monster that did like it's the creature that I keep calling
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it the monster because that's generally what it's called. But it's a creature, not necessarily
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a monster. It is a monster. Yeah. But he and their other friend slash adopted sister, I
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forgot to mention the monster has framed her for that. Not a friend. It's like a nanny.
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Yeah, nanny like the nanny was framed. Yeah, she's she's framed for the murder of and basically
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says, yeah, I did it. And he's like, but I know you didn't. Yeah. Oh, his mother has
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also died. But that was unrelated. I know it just made him very depressed when his mother
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died. And so eventually, I'm trying to remember how the events proceed. But Victor confronts
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the monster and the monsters. Hold on. Yeah, he's hiking through the mountains and he's
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approached by the creature. And then we get the creature's narrative about what it's been
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up to and what like led to the event. Yeah, he's like, he's like, hold on before you judge
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because like, Victor gets it into his mind. He's like, I brought it into I brought it
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to life. I have to end it. Or it's going to end me like one or the other. Because it is
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this great monstrous thing. Because neither one can survive while the other one lives.
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But he's so he confronts it and the monsters like, hold on. Very articulate. Are you shocked
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that I can speak? I am articulate. And I'm speaking in French of all languages. And he's
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like, now let me tell you what happened. And he gives this long story about how at first
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everything like everything was so bright, and it bothered them and sounds bothered him
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and everything. And he ran into people and like they would fear like, you know, run away
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from him. And he just hid in the woods and hid found this abandoned like structure cottage,
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whatever. And he was surviving on nuts and berries. Yeah, like he didn't have to actually
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eat like real, real mouse food. And he had grown fond of this family that he was watching.
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Yeah, which was an old blind man. I have a list here. The old blind man's name is DeLacy.
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He has a son Felix and a daughter Agatha. Yeah, and they speak French. There's also
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I can't remember his name now. And I didn't write down the character's name. But he's
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a Turkish character who they're teaching French too. So yes, so that's how the monster also
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well, it's also because it's the French Revolution, like Sadie, the girl that Felix is dating.
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Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. And so that's how he learns to speak and read and everything like
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that. And he happens to go down. Sorry. He happens to come across some books, one of
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them being Paradise Lost. And he previously in the novel, Victor has a thought of the
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monster as a new Adam, like he's bringing new life and everything here. He has written
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like notes about it. So the creature eventually, once he learns to speak and learns to read,
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he's able to read these notes and he kind of realizes like I'm not Adam, I'm Lucifer.
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Yeah, but also kind of realizes like, oh, this is how I was born because he was confused.
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Like, why does he not have a family the way these people do? And he's like, oh, because
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I was created. Right. And then one night while the rest of the family is gone, the creature
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says, OK, I'm going to introduce myself to the blind man because he's my best shot at
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being like I've been doing things like I've been chopping wood for this family and leaving
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it on the front porch. I've been clearing the snow out of their path, like unbeknownst
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to them at night when they're sleeping. I'm doing all these things for them. I'm going
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to introduce myself to the blind man. And it sort of works. And he's like trying to
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explain and starts telling the story when the rest of the family walks in and immediately
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attack them. Yeah. And like the two women faint. Yeah. And the son attacks them and
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starts beating them. The monster flees. I believe he gets shot at some point, too, in
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the shoulder. I can't. But eventually that wound heals. And he says to Frankenstein,
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like so what I want is a companion. Make someone like me. We'll move away to South America
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and you'll never see it. Never see us again. Or don't do that. And I'll kill your whole
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family. And Frankenstein's like, OK, that sounds fair. Like, yeah, sure. I'll make you
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a companion, a female companion. What's funny also, he murdered William, by the way, because
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that was very interesting. It's like he just stumbled upon William. He was like, ah, a
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child. Childs don't have biases already. So I'm going to talk to this child. And it's
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going to end the child like, oh, I'm William Frankenstein. He's like, you are the child
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of my enemy. I must kill you. He realizes like the notes from Frankenstein are in his
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pocket, like you said. And he realizes like he has to go to Geneva where Frankenstein's
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from. And he stumbles upon William like you said. Like he's like, yeah, you're the son
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of my enemy. He doesn't realize it's the brother, but he kills him. Basically. Yeah. Out of
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a jealous rage for being the projected child and everything. And then he tells him, like,
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you know, if you make me a companion, we'll go away to South America and we'll live in
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the rainforest and no one will ever even know that we're there. Victor's like, OK, that
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does seem fair. Like I did reject you. And then he can't convince himself to make it.
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But meanwhile, he has to go back to Scotland for some reason. I can't. He has to. He's
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going back to Europe and he knows the monster is going to follow him while he's on this
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trip. Sure. Like he promised Chevelle to introduce him to people. Yes. He was traveling with
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Chevelle in that very, again, very gay coded. They're just hanging out and having so much
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fun together. And you're like, is he engaged to Elizabeth and should be elsewhere? And
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he should be making a monster bride. Like, what are we doing here? So Victor in the Scottish
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Highlands is where he builds the bride. And right before he's about to bring it to life,
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he goes, what am I doing? Like he's like, he's like, I already made one of these things
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that he killed a member member of my family is responsible for the death of that person's
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nanny. Like, I don't know what to and what if the two of them can breed together and
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breed a whole army of monsters? And so he destroys the female companion. And obviously
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the monster was following him and shows up and he's like, hey, he's like, hey, you can't
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do that. Like you need to finish what you started. And Victor's pretty much like, no.
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And he's like, well, then I will be with you on your wedding night. I will make your life
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a living hell basically. And Victor's just like, whatever, man, bring it on, I guess.
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Passes out again, I think. And when he, he the next day he gets in a boat and is sailing
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for down to, he wants to sail from Scotland to England, but passes out in the boat as
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well and ends up in Ireland where Chevelle was. Yes. And he arrives and a magistrate
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takes him in and we find out that the monster has already killed Chevelle. And framed Frankenstein
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for it. But then Victor's father shows up and reveals that Victor was here when Chevelle
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died. And so he couldn't have been the one that killed her. And then they see the monster
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too and Victor points out the monster at one point. Yeah. And then goes back to Geneva,
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if I'm remembering correctly, is about to marry Elizabeth. Well, they do get married
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because in the book it's very specifically stated like his wife. So they do get married
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after his dad is very like, you guys need to marry each other. Yeah. Right. And his
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dad keeps being like, there's nobody else. Right. And I'm like, there is somebody else.
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The name is Chevelle. Well, not anymore. Not anymore. But like early on when he was still
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alive. Now that my boyfriend's dead, I guess I will marry Elizabeth. Yes, I will marry
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Elizabeth. But it's how it felt. Yeah. So they get married and the monster shows up
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on the wedding night and kills Elizabeth. And then Victor's father from the shock of
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Elizabeth dying also dies. Yes. And then that's where Victor's like, oh, I swear, I'm going
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to kill the monster. And I'm going to start spending the rest of his life hunting down
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the monster. Monster flees to Germany, to Russia, up into the Arctic. And Victor follows
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him. And that's where we run into Captain Walton and everything. And on the ship, Victor
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eventually dies. Like he succumbs to hypothermia or whatever it is. He eventually dies from
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exhaustion maybe, whatever it is. And Walton's upset about this. And that night the monster
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shows up on the ship lamenting over the body of Victor. Yes. And he's like, I can't like,
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I didn't expect this to happen. I'm so sorry that this happened. I knew that it was either
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going to be him or me, but I never actually thought that it would happen. Blah, blah,
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blah. All right, I'm going to take his body and bury it in the snow. And then I'm going
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to light myself on fire and kill myself. Like pretty much what the monster says and takes
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Victor's body. And that's kind of how it concludes. It's like Walton, I said Chevelle, but Walton
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just watching the monster go off. And like, that's pretty much how it ends. Yeah, Walton
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watches as the creature drifts away on an ice raft and have to be seen again. So we
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don't know if the creature actually kills itself or not, but presumably it does because
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he's very much like his father. But yeah, it's a very great novel. We summed it up very
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quickly, but it's a great novel. There's a lot of themes here. I mean, I feel like if
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we did every single section, we'd be here for like two hours talking about a book. Easily,
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easily. One of the themes is dangerous knowledge. Obviously very clear. Frankenstein was pursuing
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things that he shouldn't have done. And how many people tell him like, oh, why are you
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reading about those philosophers? Like, why are you studying that? Yeah. Sublime nature
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that I said Victor's early life in Geneva and even the monster living in that idolistic
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situation with the family and everything. Monstrosity, obviously a very big theme. Secrecy,
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very big theme. I don't know why text. Oh, text because influences like Paradise Lost
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and other things that are mentioned in it. Family for me, the biggest thing of the story,
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like the relationship. Oh yeah. It's totally about the relationship between father and
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son being abandoned. Family obligations like your ties, your responsibilities to your children
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and everything. Alienation. Even in the sense that like Frankenstein is alone at college,
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like alone at school. Everybody's kind of has their own loneliness. Like Elizabeth laments
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being alone. Walton is alone on the boat. Yes, very much ambition. Frankenstein, the
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creature and Walton, like you mentioned. But those were the big things. The reason why
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Frankenstein even tells him Walton the story is because he's like, I see that you are a
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man who wants to learn and do great things. And I once felt that way. And I will tell
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you how what happened to me, what has led to me being on this boat with you. Also, it's
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not a good story. And Frankenstein thinks that he's going to die too. And he wants to
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make sure someone's there to kill the creature, kill the monster. Yeah. Kill the beast. But
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if you wanted to talk more about the queer coding or. No, I mean, I think I mentioned
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it a lot. All right. All right. It's definitely there. And I like I said, I've definitely
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heard that a lot before. And again, I didn't realize this book had the was told from the
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perspective of a seaman like didn't realize that was a thing like the Walton character
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pleasantly surprised by his existence. Is there anything else you'd like to discuss about
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it? I don't know. Try and think. I think it's interesting. I think it's interesting that
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it was written as basically Lord Byron being like, I'm challenged in every book. Yeah.
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But write a book. Yeah. He was challenging them to the right. And I'm challenging all
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of you to join National Navarrainer Month. There you go. It's all the same. And we're
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circling back around to it. All right. Perfect book to start out. Lady Byron, thank you for
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that challenge. Don't call me Lady Byron. I don't want to be that Madden. I don't want
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to be any of those romantic era poets. They're all crazy. You're not wrong. Yeah. I'll stick
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to my own brand of crazy. I think if you haven't read this novel, you should check it out.
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It is very different from any of the Frankenstein movies that are out there. And very different
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from what in like there's no mention of bolts in his neck. There's no lightning. Although
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he does have a brief line about electricity or something like that. I can't remember exactly
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how it was said. But, you know, there's no Igor or Igor if you're watching young Frankenstein.
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It's it's very different from what in the pop culture we think of when we think of Frankenstein.
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I wonder why those choices were originally chosen. You know what I mean? Like what led
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to those decisions being made? My best guess would be in the 1930s when they made that
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Boris Kalov, whatever the hell his name was, film. They already had a castle set. And so
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they like my my my best guess would be they had the sets for what they and they just wrote
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the movie around that. Yeah. I don't know that for a fact, but that would be my guess.
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And maybe at some point we'll check out the one that stars De Niro as the creature. Maybe
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it is accurate to the book. We'll have to see online. It said it was the most accurate to
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the book. So although I can't I'm trying to picture De Niro as the creature. Right.
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Hey, Doc, Dr. Frankenstein, look at me. I'm talking to you. That's that's what I'm hearing
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that's what I'm hearing in my head. It's probably, you know, not that, but that's what I'm thinking.
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But yeah, Mary Shelley, very messed up life, wrote a great novel out of it. I guess several
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other novels. I don't know. I know. What is the other short one that she wrote? That's obviously
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the I can't think of it now. There's no, no, no, no, no, no. It's a short story. It's like my
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immortal mortal. Yes, I know. Yeah. And it's got similar themes to Frankenstein.
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This has been this week's episode of Once Again Podcast. Although I might do two episodes this
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week. We'll have to see. Any questions, comments or critiques can be addressed to our Gmail.
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Once again, pod at gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and threads at Once Again Pod. Thank
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you and have a wonderful day. And remember, we will entertain you. We will always entertain you.