For the modern reader, Frankenstein fails in its intention to depict and evoke horror. In part this is a failure of style, and in part is a failure of technique--the author dwells too little on grisly details. We have to take the horror too much secondhand. Though the events of the novel are horrifying--three murders, a wrongful conviction, another death--the author, for whatever reason of sensibility or youth, chooses not to make a spectacle of them.
While Frankenstein worked in its day, it has since become a model of what not to do if you really want to frighten the reader.
Jane Smiley, 13 Ways of Looking at The Novel, 2005
While Frankenstein worked in its day, it has since become a model of what not to do if you really want to frighten the reader.
Jane Smiley, 13 Ways of Looking at The Novel, 2005
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