Frankenstein: Icon of Modern Culture


Attesting to the iconic stature of the ubermonster, the volume under review describes the various manifestations of the Frankenstein creepshow in all their camp glory. Taking the icon to encompass not only the nameless Creature but also his creator and Mary Shelley's novel, Audrey Fisch convincingly argues against a single, uncomplicated version of Frankenstein. Instead, Shelley's novel spawned so many iterations that it is more accurate to speak of a multiplicity of Frankensteins. Fisch introduces us to many of these outre stepchildren. Clearly, Frankenstein is a gift that keeps on giving.


Contrary to popular opinion, initial sales of Frankenstein were unremarkable. Almost immediately, however, what Mary Shelley called her "hideous progeny" took on an extra-textual life. Fisch explores the over-the-top permutations of the Frankenstein franchise in various genres, considering its global reach. In fact, the book's beauty resides in its stitching together of fabulous manifestations of this malleable icon.


Perhaps it is for this reason that Fisch includes little interpretation or theory, although she does discuss the "shape-shifting icon" in terms of science and the women's movement, rehashing the feminist canonisation of the novel.


Mercifully, she does not indulge in cliched readings such as - heaven help us - the birth myth. But it is disappointing that Fisch finds the reason our collective imagination is so obsessed with this icon to be "unresolvable".


Frankenstein: Icon of Modern Culture
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