“There never was a wilder story imagined,” wrote one reviewer on the first publication of Frankenstein in 1818. Few works of fiction have had as much influence on the world as this haunting tale of a monster and its creator: the prophetic power of the novel’s imagery in reflecting the dehumanising aspects of science, technology, business and the mass media has never abated. Josie Billington looks at why the novel matters so much and why, after 200 years, its message is still so powerful.
