Frankenstein. Shelley M.

conceived and begun during a creative competition in the composition of terrible stories on the Swiss Villa Dyodati in June 1816, initiated by Lord Byron, the debut novel of the English writer Mary Shelley, "Modern Prometheus" (1818) became one of the masterpieces of romantic Gothic and At the same time, the starting point of the science fiction tradition in the prose of the new and modern times. Sending the very name to the ancient myth of Prometheus, the book of M. Shelly for the incomplete two centuries gave rise to its own vast and influential cultural mythology, growing all with new heroes, situations and meanings in countless imitations, transfers and adaptations. The tragic and terrible plot invented by the author of the book was open to various artistic, philosophical and socio-political interpretations, and the name and personality of the Swiss experimental scientist Viktor Frankenstein firmly connected in a modern cultural consciousness with the image of the monster he created in a two-single symbol of daring hopes and deadly dangers, accompanying scientific searches and outstanding discoveries.