From the publisher
Robert Walton, an English adventurer, undertakes an expedition to the North Pole. While on this expedition (which has been a lifelong dream of his), Walton corresponds with his sister by letter. Amid the ice floes, Walton and his crew find an extremely weary man traveling by dogsled. The man is near death, and they determine to take him aboard. Once the mysterious traveler has somewhat recovered from his weakness, Robert Walton begins to talk to him. The two strike up a friendship (Walton is very lonely and has long desired a close companion). The man is desolate, and for a long while will not talk about why he is traversing the Arctic alone. After becoming more comfortable with Walton, he decides to tell him his long-concealed story. The speaker is Victor Frankenstein, for whom the book is named. He will be the narrator for the bulk of the novel. Born into a wealthy Swiss family, Victor enjoyed an idyllic, peaceful childhood. His parents were kind, marvelous people; they are presented- as shining examples of the goodness of the human spirit. His father, Alphonse, fell in love with his wife, Caroline, when her father, a dear friend of his, passed away. Alphonse took the young orphan under his care, and as time passed they fell in love. He provides for his wife in grand style. Out of gratitude for her own good fortune, Caroline is extremely altruistic. She frequently visits the poor who live in her part of the Italian countryside. One day she chances upon the home of a family who has a beautiful foster daughter. Her name is Elizabeth Lavenza. Though they are kind, the poverty of Elizabeth's foster parents makes caring for her a financial burden. Caroline falls in love with the lovely girl on sight, and adopts her into the Frankenstein family. She is close in age to Victor, and becomes the central, most beloved part of his childhood. Elizabeth is Victor's most cherished companion. Their parents encourage the children to be close in every imaginable way - as cousins, as brother and sister, and, in the future, as husband and wife. Mary Wollstonecraft, ne le 27 avril 1759 Spitalfields, un quartier du Grand Londres, et morte le 10 septembre 1797 Londres, est une matresse d'cole, femme de lettres, philosophe et fministe anglaise. Au cours de sa brve carrire, elle crit des romans, des traits, un rcit de voyage, une histoire de la Rvolution franaise et un livre pour enfants. Elle est surtout connue pour son pamphlet contre la socit patriarcale de son temps, Dfense des droits de la femme. Elle y avance l'ide que si les femmes paraissent infrieures aux hommes, c'est l une injustice non pas lie la nature mais rsultant du manque d'ducation approprie auquel elles se trouvent soumises. Pour elle, hommes et femmes sans distinction mritent d'tre traits en tres rationnels, ce qui implique que l'ordre social soit fond sur la raison. Pour le grand public et, plus particulirement, pour les fministes, la vie de Mary Wollstonecraft attire plus l'attention que son oeuvre. En effet, ses relations sentimentales, souvent tumultueuses, n'ont que rarement t conformes aux conventions. Aprs deux aventures malheureuses, l'une avec Henry Fuseli et l'autre avec Gilbert Imlay (dont elle eut une fille, Fanny Imlay), elle pouse le philosophe William Godwin, l'un des pres du mouvement anarchiste. Elle meurt l'ge de trente-huit ans, dix jours aprs la naissance de sa deuxime fille, laissant plusieurs manuscrits inachevs. Sa seconde fille, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, deviendra plus tard clbre sous le nom de Mary Shelley pour avoir, entre autres, crit Frankenstein.
