Frankenstein est un roman original à plus d'un titre. Sa première version, publiée sans nom d'auteur, a été écrite par une jeune femme de 19 ans. Le livre est considéré, en outre, comme le dernier roman gothique et comme l'un des tout premiers romans de science-fiction. Il raconte l'histoire d'un "savant fou", Victor Frankenstein, qui, par ambition démesurée, en vient à créer un être humain à partir de cadavres et d'une "étincelle de vie". Ce sera, hélas, le point de départ de nombreux malheurs...

Frankenstein ou le Prométhée moderne - Extraits

Victor Frankenstein thinks he has found the secret of lite. He takes parts from dead people and builds a new "man". But this monster is so big and frightening that everyone runs away from him - even Frankenstein himself ! The monster is like an enormous baby who needs love. But nobody gives him love, and soon he learns to hate. And, because he is so strong, the next thing he learns is how to kill...

Frankenstein

Written by Mary Shelley (1797-1851), Frankenstein is the best-selling horror classic about an experiment that goes horribly wrong, and a monster who swears revenge on his creator. Swiss student Victor Frankenstein uncovers the secret to bringing life to what is lifeless, and in assembling body parts to create a monster, ultimately sets the stage for his own destruction and that of everything he loves when the monster is rejected by society. Penned as part of a competition between Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori to see who could write the best horror story, Frankenstein is resonant with themes of love, friendship, hubris, and fear. It presents the epic battle between man and monster, showing that man is not always capable of controlling that which he creates. HarperPerennialClassics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

July 16, 1833.--This is a memorable anniversary for me; on it I complete my three hundred and twenty-third year!

The Wandering Jew?--certainly not. More than eighteen centuries have passed over his head. In comparison with him, I am a very young Immortal.

Am I, then, immortal? This is a question which I have asked myself, by day and night, for now three hundred and three years, and yet cannot answer it. I detected a grey hair amidst my brown locks this very day--that surely signifies decay. Yet it may have remained concealed there for three hundred years--for some persons have become entirely white-headed before twenty years of age.

I will tell my story, and my reader shall judge for me. I will tell my story, and so contrive to pass some few hours of a long eternity, become so wearisome to me. For ever! Can it be? to live for ever! I have heard of enchantments, in which the victims were plunged into a deep sleep, to wake, after a hundred years, as fresh as ever: I have heard of the Seven Sleepers--thus to be immortal would not be so burthensome: but, oh! the weight of never-ending time--the tedious passage of the still-succeeding hours! How happy was the fabled Nourjahad!--But to my task.

Mary Shelley's short stories

En 1816 Mary Shelley, surtout connue pour son célèbre Frankenstein, et son mari Percy Shelley entament, avec leur grand ami et poète Lord Byron, un voyage de deux mois qui passe par Genève et Chamonix. La découverte de paysages " sublimes et grandioses " leur inspire des lettres enthousiastes. La révélation de ces lettres inédites en français est que Frankenstein est né de la contemplation des glaces.

Frankenstein sur la Mer de Glace - Ou le voyage de Genève à Chamonix

Traduction de Hannah Betjeman.  Dossier pédagogique de Cédric Hannedouche. Lors d'un voyage au pôle Nord, Robert Walton vient en aide à Victor Frankenstein. L'homme lui raconte alors son histoire. Passionné de sciences, il a réussi à créer la vie à partir de cadavres. Effrayé par sa propre création, l'homme prend la fuite. Toutefois, le dangereux monstre est prêt à tout pour que le scientifique lui crée une compagne. Écrit par la romancière anglaise Mary Shelley, Frankenstein est le premier roman de science-fiction : un incontournable du genre !   Groupements de textes :  1. Le savant fou en littérature 2. Créatures monstrueuses.

A la suite d'une manipulation scientifique hasardeuse, Victor Frankenstein parvient à "animer la matière inerte" et crée un nouvel homme. Mais, horrifié par sa créature, il l'abandonne. Livré à lui-même, rejeté par tous ceux qu'il croise, le monstre, plein de haine, se révolte contre celui qui lui a donné la vie. Dans ce terrifiant roman qui mêle le gothique, le fantastique et la science-fiction, Mary Shelley peint un être aussi effrayant que touchant, qui aspire désespérément à se rapprocher des hommes...

St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17-

TO Mrs. Saville, England

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.

I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour. There-for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators-there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe.

Victor Frankenstein a travaillé sans relâche pour découvrir le secret de la vie. Jour et nuit, il s'est enfermé dans son laboratoire secret. Jour et nuit, il a fait les expériences les plus incroyables, les plus atroces. Et voilà qu'au moment de réussir, tout s'effondre. La créature à laquelle il a donné vie est un monstre. Horrifié, le savant s'enfuit abandonnant la créature à elle-même. Grave erreur ! Seule, mal-aimée, elle n'aura désormais qu'un but : se venger de son créateur.

Frankenstein ou le Prométhée moderne - Extraits

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