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Radu Florescu is an expert on Eastern European history, who is probably best known for co-authoring In Search Of Dracula, a book that attempts to tie the material in Bram Stoker's influential novel to real-life origins.
It was probably a foregone conclusion that one day Florescu would subject Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein - a work that is as popular as Dracula, if not more so - to the same treatment. After all, given the fact that the seeds for Shelley's book and the earliest known vampire tale were planted at the same time, its not completely out of line to suggest that Dracula might never have come to be, had it not been for its predecessor.
The first four chapters of Florescu's book examine Shelley's background, her family history and her place in the loosely knit literary circle that orbited around her husband - renowned Romantic poet Percy Shelley - and his friend and fellow poet, George Gordon, Lord Byron.
Florescu traces the Shelley's extensive travels in Europe and catalogs correspondences between places Mary visited and similar passages in the novel. Florescu theorizes that the Frankenstein family of the fictional work may have been modeled on a real-life family that inhabited Castle Frankenstein in Germany's Rhine River valley and suggests that Victor Frankenstein's dabblings in "unhallowed arts" were inspired by tales of Konrad Dippel, a notorious German alchemist.
The next few chapters are devoted to an in-depth examination of the infamous summer of 1816, when Byron, Mary and Percy Shelley, Mary's sister, Claire Clairmont, and Byron's physician, John Polidori, whiled away many rainy hours by amusing themselves with tales of the supernatural. Byron challenged the group members to each come up with their own supernatural tale and the rest, as they say, was history. Florescu also discusses the many tragedies that plagued Mary Shelley, including the untimely deaths of several of her children. All members of the circle of taletellers, except Claire Clairmont and Mary, also met with early ends - Percy Shelley drowned in a storm, Byron died a few years later of an illness and Polidori died by his own hand.
The rest of the book examines the enduring impact of Mary Shelley's book and the scores of movies which followed - and preceded - James Whale's famous 1931 adaptation. Frankenstein was published in 1818 and within five years it had already made it to the stage. Like the films that followed in the next century, quite a few of these plays were very loosely adapted from the book. Many starred Thomas Potter Cooke, who became as well known in his day for playing Frankenstein's monster as Boris Karloff would a century later. Florescu devotes an entire chapter to Frankenstein on film and another - The Artificial Man - to discussing possible influences that might have inspired Mary Shelley to write about reanimation. The book also includes several informative appendices, including an in-depth bibliography and filmography.
It is a testimony to the enduring popularity of Frankenstein, the book, that you can step into virtually any bookstore and find numerous versions of the work. The popularity of Frankenstein as a subject for filmic and other types of dramatic discourse never seems to wane and the monster Ð though it is most often the lumbering creature popularized by Karloff Ð has become a timeless pop culture icon. In Search Of Frankenstein fails to come to any firm conclusions regarding its theories of origin Ð at least for the most part - but it is a great addition to the Frankenstein canon even so.
William I. Lengeman III has published non-fiction in numerous publications, including Saveur, Historic Traveler, Terra Nova, and the anthology, "An Ear to the Ground." His fiction and poetry have appeared or been accepted for publication in such print venues as Andromeda Spaceways, City Slab and Dark Animus, as well as in numerous independent and small press online publications. For more info and links to stories and his blog, visit 499-Word Tales For The Modern Age.
© 2003 William I. Lengeman III
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