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mad_about_books's review
5.0
FRANKENSTEIN, by Mary Shelley, is one of my most read books. It was the first full-length novel I read in a speculative fiction class in college where it was described by my professor as the first science fiction novel. I'd always thought of it as a morality play but isn't that the fiber behind every good work of science fiction?
In "Beyond Castle Frankenstein," Paula Cappa has captured an essence of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's work that goes beyond the science fiction, beyond the morality play, by presenting her innermost thoughts and feelings in a letter to her dead husband. The letter is found by Robert Beauclerk hidden behind a painting, Casa Magni, by artist Francesco Bagnara. Like Mary Shelley, Francesco Bagnara is an historic figure, and Casa Magni is the actual residence in which Mary Shelley's iconic work was written.
My affinity for the dark side of speculative fiction has always drawn me to works such as FRANKENSTEIN and on to the fiction it has inspired. There is a gothic quality to much of what Paula Cappa writes. Her prose is lyric transforming common words into magic. "Beyond Castle Frankenstein" is a fitting tribute to FRANKENSTEIN; or, The Modern Prometheus.
In "Beyond Castle Frankenstein," Paula Cappa has captured an essence of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's work that goes beyond the science fiction, beyond the morality play, by presenting her innermost thoughts and feelings in a letter to her dead husband. The letter is found by Robert Beauclerk hidden behind a painting, Casa Magni, by artist Francesco Bagnara. Like Mary Shelley, Francesco Bagnara is an historic figure, and Casa Magni is the actual residence in which Mary Shelley's iconic work was written.
My affinity for the dark side of speculative fiction has always drawn me to works such as FRANKENSTEIN and on to the fiction it has inspired. There is a gothic quality to much of what Paula Cappa writes. Her prose is lyric transforming common words into magic. "Beyond Castle Frankenstein" is a fitting tribute to FRANKENSTEIN; or, The Modern Prometheus.
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