Frankenstein

There are novels that need no introduction, stories that go beyond the merely literary to become part of popular culture. That is the case of Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, Shelley's immortal masterpiece that holds a double place of privilege: on the one hand, it is part of the select group of the most outstanding novels of the splendorous 19th century; on the other, it presents one of the most recognizable symbols of universal terror: the creature or monster created by Dr. Frankenstein.

But is Frankenstein a horror novel, is it a science fiction novel, or is it, on the other hand, a historical novel? The answer is tricky: it is all of these and more. Let's take it one step at a time. For many, Frankenstein is one of the first published works of science fiction. Leaving aside the work Somnium (1634) by the astronomer Johannes Kepler (considered by experts on the subject such as Carl Sagan or Isaac Asimov as the first story of the genre), Frankenstein is in 1818 the beginning of what is known as proto-science fiction, inaugurating an era in which authors of the stature of Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe or H.G. Wells would later stand out. We are therefore before a genre that drinks from myths and legends, stories in which fantasy has a great weight and, in the specific case of Shelley's work, somewhat influenced by the previous stage of gothic horror.

It is undeniable that Shelley imbues his work with a mysterious and sometimes terrifying halo, playing a bit on two sides between the purely scientific and speculative (theorizing about Galvanism and bioelectricity), and the more classic horror of monsters, castles and such things. To highlight the twist with the creature, who despite being an abominable being to the eye and morality, keeps good heart and judgment, showing his nature in principle good-natured and his impossible desire: just to be another man.

Frankenstein is an ode to human restlessness, to his eagerness for knowledge and self-improvement, to surpass his own biological limits and, why not, to play God. It warns, as Victor himself often does, of the dangers of overcoming certain limits, of the torment and pain that come into the life of those who dare to upset the sacred natural laws, both for the creator and the created. The novel is impregnated with that scientific curiosity of the time, remembering that it was written a few decades after the emergence of the Enlightenment, a cultural phenomenon that gave all the prominence to reason and science, moving away from the "dark" centuries of the Middle Ages in which the only measure taken was the divine.

Shelley's work is, as it could not be otherwise, a true daughter of her time. Both because of these enlightened and scientific concerns and because it is a novel that we can well insert within the current of romanticism. It is notorious for its melancholic sensibility, the passion with which the main characters try to fit into the world, that yearning to be free, to escape from a fierce and gloomy world that counteracts with their restless hearts.

Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus is a true literary classic on its own merits. For the originality of its proposal, for dealing with capital issues such as progress, ethics or self-acceptance, good and evil, prejudice, revenge... A rounded novel to which to turn to from time to time.