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''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is a novel written by the English author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley about the young science student Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque but sentient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823. Shelley had travelled through Europe in 1814, journeying along the river Rhine in Germany with a stop in Gernsheim which is just 17 km (10 mi) away from Frankenstein Castle, where, two centuries before, an alchemist was engaged in experiments.〔Hobbler, Dorthy and Thomas. ''The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein''. Back Bay Books; August 20, 2007〕〔Garrett, Martin. ''Mary Shelley''. Oxford University Press, 2002〕〔Seymour, Miranda. ''Mary Shelley''. Atlanta, GA: Grove Press, 2002. pg 110-111〕 Later, she travelled in the region of Geneva (Switzerland)—where much of the story takes place—and the topic of galvanism and other similar occult ideas were themes of conversation among her companions, particularly her lover and future husband, Percy Shelley. Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, and John Polidori decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. After thinking for days, Shelley dreamt about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made; her dream later evolved into the novel's story. ''Frankenstein'' is infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement, and is also considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Brian Aldiss has argued that it should be considered the first true science fiction story because, in contrast to previous stories with fantastical elements resembling those of later science fiction, the central character "makes a deliberate decision" and "turns to modern experiments in the laboratory" to achieve fantastic results.〔''The Detached Retina: Aspects of SF and Fantasy'' by Brian Aldiss (1995), (page 78 ).〕 It has had a considerable influence in literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories, films, and plays. Since the novel's publication, the name "Frankenstein" has often been used to refer to the monster itself, as it is in the stage adaptation by Peggy Webling. This usage is sometimes considered erroneous, but usage commentators regard it as well-established and acceptable.〔Bergen Evans, "Comfortable Words," New York: Random House, 1957〕〔Bryan Garner, "A Dictionary of Modern American Usage", New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998〕〔"Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of American English", Merriam-Webster: 2002〕 In the novel, the monster is identified by words such as "creature", "monster", "demon", and "it". Speaking to Victor Frankenstein, the monster refers to himself as "the Adam of your labours", and elsewhere as someone who "would have" been "your Adam", but is instead "your fallen angel." ==Summary== ''Frankenstein'' is written in the form of a frame story that starts with Captain Robert Walton writing letters to his sister. It takes place at an unspecified time in the 18th Century, as the letters' dates are given as "17—". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Frankenstein」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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