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maderrIf by some weird chance you do not already know this, I am obsessed with Frankenstein. The only book I love more is Jekyll & Hyde and really I should probably say they draw equal.
I read it in highschool, though not for highschool, because my teachers there didn't think such bucks were worth anything - we read The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, Raisins in the Sun, and goddamned fucking Tess of the d'Ubervilles*
All the cool books I read on my own, minus the obligatory 1984**, a few Dickens, about the only taste my highschool teachers had -- and that only because their teaching manuals and certain NC requirements for our exams required it.
Maybe I'm a little bitter about my highschool education. The only shit I ever learned was what they never taught.
I digress.
I no longer remember why I finally read Frankenstein, only that I was completely in love with it. Until then I only knew the Hollywood crap that everyone knew, and it was quite a thrill to read something else entirely. I love Victor, his obsessions, I love his monster in all his (now cliche) misundestood misery.
Maybe about the fourth time I read it, I finally realized that Shelley never really cleared up what happened to one of the characters -- Ernest.
Everyone else dies. Victor's fiance, his father, his youngest brother, his best friend -- all of them. But Ernest, his younger brother, lives. The book I just finished reading mentions that Shelley changed him bit when she made revisions to the book, making him stronger and all - but she never says what becomes of him.
Obviously it's not important to the story, which is about Victor and his monster, but it still has always bugged me. What would a man like that do? To know that his entire family is dead, and all because of some shit his golden-boy older brother did? Everything he knows is dead and gone, his brother gone mad and gone to chase after the monster...
I always wished someone would write a story about Ernest. I wish I was up to the task. Alas, historical settings are not my forte and I'm not quite brave enough to try it anyway
I'm more than willing to write Unequal Children, which in my mind is the only dark fairytale-ish story I'll ever write, and abuse all the dark books and stories I love, but I don't think I'm up to writing a story about Ernest. If one alrady exists, I have never heard of it, though I would love to.
Anyway, if anyone has not been bored to tears by my silly fangirl ramblings, the book that got me started was The Monsters by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler. It was a solid read -- not happy, or sparkly, but given how much I love the works of the persons involved, I wanted to read it. I tend not to learn much about writers and poets, given that if I were ever famous I would hate to know how much of my life people know. Still, they're dead, I figure I'd be beyond caring at that point too. I highly reccomend it.
*I loathe, despise, detest, and hate this book with the fury and passion of a thousand burnng suns. Precious few books in my life have sparked such a reaction, and poor, enduring Sammikins will tell you I can rant for length about it. Tess is fucking stupid, and that's all I feel like saying on the matter. One of these days I guess I should reread it, as I was only in highschool when I first read it, but I'm not kidding when I say just thinking of the book turns my vision blood red. Maybe my chicks get repetitive in their independence and all, but at least they're not as stupid as goddamn fucking Tess.
**I loved 1984, I love the general premise and read/watch just about everything concering such ideas. Likes fairytales and certain other premises, it's one that will never bore me. There's something else I always think about when 1984 comes up though, concering Frankenstien and my stupid goddamn hs teachers. We had to write a final paper, comparing two books/plays/poems, and we could choose whatever we wanted. I chose Frankenstein for one, but could not think of a good book with which to compare it, as I wanted to find something to contrast Victor, since I thought it would be cool to explore his character. My teacher's brilliant suggestion when I went to her for help? 'Do 1984' (which we had *just* finished reading) =_= I had to go to a teacher in another class, a teacher I didn't know, to get help. One of his suggestions was the play Pygmalion - which most know as My Fair Lady. Pretty cool, eh?
I'll shut up now.
I read it in highschool, though not for highschool, because my teachers there didn't think such bucks were worth anything - we read The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, Raisins in the Sun, and goddamned fucking Tess of the d'Ubervilles*
All the cool books I read on my own, minus the obligatory 1984**, a few Dickens, about the only taste my highschool teachers had -- and that only because their teaching manuals and certain NC requirements for our exams required it.
Maybe I'm a little bitter about my highschool education. The only shit I ever learned was what they never taught.
I digress.
I no longer remember why I finally read Frankenstein, only that I was completely in love with it. Until then I only knew the Hollywood crap that everyone knew, and it was quite a thrill to read something else entirely. I love Victor, his obsessions, I love his monster in all his (now cliche) misundestood misery.
Maybe about the fourth time I read it, I finally realized that Shelley never really cleared up what happened to one of the characters -- Ernest.
Everyone else dies. Victor's fiance, his father, his youngest brother, his best friend -- all of them. But Ernest, his younger brother, lives. The book I just finished reading mentions that Shelley changed him bit when she made revisions to the book, making him stronger and all - but she never says what becomes of him.
Obviously it's not important to the story, which is about Victor and his monster, but it still has always bugged me. What would a man like that do? To know that his entire family is dead, and all because of some shit his golden-boy older brother did? Everything he knows is dead and gone, his brother gone mad and gone to chase after the monster...
I always wished someone would write a story about Ernest. I wish I was up to the task. Alas, historical settings are not my forte and I'm not quite brave enough to try it anyway
I'm more than willing to write Unequal Children, which in my mind is the only dark fairytale-ish story I'll ever write, and abuse all the dark books and stories I love, but I don't think I'm up to writing a story about Ernest. If one alrady exists, I have never heard of it, though I would love to.
Anyway, if anyone has not been bored to tears by my silly fangirl ramblings, the book that got me started was The Monsters by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler. It was a solid read -- not happy, or sparkly, but given how much I love the works of the persons involved, I wanted to read it. I tend not to learn much about writers and poets, given that if I were ever famous I would hate to know how much of my life people know. Still, they're dead, I figure I'd be beyond caring at that point too. I highly reccomend it.
*I loathe, despise, detest, and hate this book with the fury and passion of a thousand burnng suns. Precious few books in my life have sparked such a reaction, and poor, enduring Sammikins will tell you I can rant for length about it. Tess is fucking stupid, and that's all I feel like saying on the matter. One of these days I guess I should reread it, as I was only in highschool when I first read it, but I'm not kidding when I say just thinking of the book turns my vision blood red. Maybe my chicks get repetitive in their independence and all, but at least they're not as stupid as goddamn fucking Tess.
**I loved 1984, I love the general premise and read/watch just about everything concering such ideas. Likes fairytales and certain other premises, it's one that will never bore me. There's something else I always think about when 1984 comes up though, concering Frankenstien and my stupid goddamn hs teachers. We had to write a final paper, comparing two books/plays/poems, and we could choose whatever we wanted. I chose Frankenstein for one, but could not think of a good book with which to compare it, as I wanted to find something to contrast Victor, since I thought it would be cool to explore his character. My teacher's brilliant suggestion when I went to her for help? 'Do 1984' (which we had *just* finished reading) =_= I had to go to a teacher in another class, a teacher I didn't know, to get help. One of his suggestions was the play Pygmalion - which most know as My Fair Lady. Pretty cool, eh?
I'll shut up now.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-23 06:11 pm (UTC)It's sad though. I don't think I ever read Frankenstein. I am going to the store right now to rectify that! This is why I love LJ. I am always reading the most interesting posts!