Mary Shelley: Final Thesis

To read the book, click here.

I have found a lot of interpretations for this book that say that this book is a warning against pursuing science with too much ambition, leaving behind religious morality and restriction. This theory fits in very well with the time when the book was written. But we also know that Mary Shelley was an atheist. My reading gave me a different, in fact opposite look at the book. To see why I see Frankenstein as an atheist reading - one that separates morality from religion, read below.

Mary Shelley: The Modern Prometheus

To understand the reference to fire, light, and Prometheus, these links can be useful reading. To read Frankenstein, you can get the book on-line here. To understand why the book's subtitle is so significant to the reading of the tale, read on.

Mary Shelley: The Sublime - Romanticism

To understand this motif, I would recommend reading Frankenstein, a free on-line copy of which can be found here. Mary Shelley wrote at the early stages of a literary movement known as Romanticism. We can see shades of romanticism in her novel, as explored below.

Mary Shelley: Introduction

To get a basic understanding of what this section is all about, please read below.

Tale Share: The Dead are Real

The one question that bothers me a lot is about how real or fictitious historical fiction is. I mean, think about it, if one wanted to talk about historical figures, tell their tales, then why not write biographies? Obviously historical fiction is different, allows the author some agency into the lives of historic entities. But then, what right does one have to change the way someone lived, or died? Perhaps the best way to understand historical fiction is to think of it as set within the realms of history, aligned to the reality of the time, and yet allowing agency to the author to take their characters through the story they have chosen to tell.

A famous personality who has made historical fiction her life, is Hillary Mantel. In 2012, the New Yorker's Larissa MacFaquhar talked about Hillary and the agency of historical fiction. I have quoted a few snippets of this enlightening article below, but for the full article, click on this link.

Tale Share: Why Historians should Write Fiction

When a novel is set in the past, we often have to build a world to support the story that we tell. If we set it in our actual past, then we have to take elements of history and fit to the plot itself. This brings forth the field of historical fiction. But how do we define historical fiction anyway? The following is an essay by Ian Mortimer, a famous historian, who writes historical fiction under the pseudonym of James Forrester, and it tries to address the question from the point of view of the authors who write these stories. This article written at the IHR conference is an insightful look at how historians view the genre, and how we could possibly define it. The following are some snippets that I found really relevant to the conversation.

Bram Stoker: Final Thesis

For the book, read here. For my final thesis on the basis of my reading, click on the link below.

Bram Stoker: Introduction

To get a basic understanding of what this section is all about, read on.

Lewis Carroll: Final Thesis

For the first book, read here. For the second book read here. For my thesis on the books, read below.

Procrastination

When you know what you need to do, like read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland series and come up with a thesis, but it's the weekend and... well, procrastination.

Pic credits: Piled Higher and Deeper

Lewis Carroll: Introduction

To get a basic understanding of what this section is all about, read on.

Grimm Brothers: Final Thesis

So as it turns out, I missed my submission window for the thesis by an hour and a few minutes. But the effort I put in still has some meaning, and so I share my views on my readings here with you. For the thesis, read below.

Grimm Brothers: The Three Spinsters

For the story, click here. For summary and analysis, read on.

Grimm Brothers: Faithful John

Find this story here. Read the summary and analysis below.

Grimm Brothers: The Goose Girl

Read the story here. For summary and analysis, read on.

Grimm Brothers: The Rabbit's Bride

For the story, click here. Read the summary and analysis below.

Grimm Brothers: Introduction

To get a basic idea of what this entire section is about, read on.