Since we started the Halloween issue, way back in August (Yep, takes that long to birth a magazine. Weird, huh?) I have researched more about Frankenstein and Mary Shelley than I imagined possible.

Then I found this:

Frankenstein, A Cultural History is a new account of Frankenstein as a cultural concept. During my research I learned an awful lot about Mary Shelley's novel, but neglected to recognize what makes it is such a masterpiece. Of course! Frankenstein is everywhere! The western world is culturally obsessed with this icon. The book’s author, Susan Tyler Hitchcock, says it best:

"[Frankenstein is] in our bookstores, on our film and television screens, from morning cartoons to wee-hours rerun movies. He plays roles in advertising and political debate, he appears at public library story hours and on graduate-level reading lists. He is both a joke and a profound ethical dilemma."

The book examines step by step how Frankenstein has changed and evolved as a figure in our culture. She looks at how Dickens mentions “Frankenstein,” and explores the mid 19^th century meaning of the term. At the time, “Frankenstein” was a colloquialism for a misguided idea. How appropriate.

She also moves the comedic aspects of Frankenstein. She mentions Herman Munster, from the classic television show, The Munsters. Clearly, this popular version isn't the scary and tortured creature Mary Shelley intended.

Hitchcock does ultimately return to Mary Shelley's intent. But I am left thinking about the million embodiments of Frankenstein I've encountered in my life. It's Halloween, which is hands down my favorite day of the year, and I wonder how many Frankensteins I will pass tonight. An 8-year-old sugar-crazed one? Perhaps a tall, green, and handsome version? I hope to pass someone who has really tapped into the text, and resembles the saddened, burdened, and abandoned creature that Shelley originally cast out into the literary world, the creature that has transfixed readers for almost two centuries. Whatever Frankenstein I find (and I will find one), I will be satisfied to know that he is evidence of the lasting power literature has over culture.