Wandering Eye: Frankenstein and Banksy walk into a bar
Editorial Staff
WORDS AND IMAGES
Mary Shelley was doubtful of the quality of her novel
Frankenstein when it was published in 1818, and filled the margins of her copy of the book with handwritten notes. Today, these emendations meant to increase suspense and improve word choice—e.g., substituting the refined “anguished” for the more workaday “wretched”—give us insight into the author’s thought process. (
Morgan Library and Museum)
Whatever her process was, we’re fairly certain her goal wasn’t to create “a work of autofictional erotica starring Mary Shelley in a corset”—though that’s the idea you might get from the cover art that one publisher choose for the book after its release into the public domain. You can see that cover here, among fifty literary classics that have met a similarly unfortunate fate. (