The Shelley-Godwin Archive

Within the Shelley-Godwin Archive, the text is available in the original form it was written in through the use of scans. Each page of Shelley’s original draft of the book is scanned and uploaded to the archive in order to preserve and present the content to the world. While each page is a scan of the original, it is also transcribed and presented side by side with the original in order to better read the book. The scans are very difficult to read as the almost 200 year old book is weathered and the ink is heavily faded. I prefer this way of reading and digesting the book as you can easily refer to Shelley’s words and thoughts straight off of the page and then read it in an easier format. This way of digitizing the book allows more people to access the content and appreciate the work that went into the book by also including the Percy Shelley edited version that was released in 1831 as well as the 1818 version.

Literature in Context

The 1818 version of Frankenstein is available on the Literature in Context website in a rather confusing and frustrating format. Each page is broken and the entire book is in scroll form. The transcription is filled with page breaks that break off on words of the text. This makes it extremely difficult to read and digest because of the formatting and there are no hyperlinks to specific chapters or pages making it hard to find a specific section for reference. In comparison with the Shelley-Godwin Archive, this version of the book is lacking the accessibility and readability that the archive offers. While it is a free digital way to read the novel, it is not the most convenient way to do so. This source does not provide the 1831 version transcription and it also does not include annotations. While the original scan from the Archive is difficult to read, the transcription of it is clear and right next to the original in book-page form making it far superior to the unorganized and choppy version that is available on the Literature in Context website.

The Perfect Blend

While using Voyant to better understand the contents of the 1818 and 1831 versions of Frankenstein, I found that there are some significant differences in the two books that do not necessarily take away from the main storyline but rather cuts down others. For instance, in the background for the villagers house that the creature was living in half of their storyline was cut in the 1831 version. I found this through the decreased use of the word “father” in the 1831 version compared to the 1818 version which features the storyline. In a perfect world, there would be a version of the book that side-by- side compares the two books and gives a footnote of the differences made from one to the other. A website like Voyant is extremely helpful in these cases where I can compare the bones of the book to each other but not on a deeper level where I can compare the two directly.