Gay frankenstein
I wish therefore that my companion should be wiser and more experienced than myself, to confirm and support me; nor have I believed it impossible to find a true friend. His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Lauritsen shows how Walton, who is the actual narrator of Frankenstein, falls in love with Victor as he nurses him back to health.
This represents what I see as an important and growing trend in gay writing today, as reflected in the writings of other contemporary gay historians, such as Will Roscoe and James T. Sears, who use psychological approaches to varying degrees in their analyses. The Age of Frankenstein, as the critic Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick called this period in England, was one in which gay men suffered gay frankenstein fear of exposure and arrest, which could result in a sentence.
The biggest exception to this literary erasure is, ironically enough, the most iconic and celebrated screen versions of Shelley’s work, Universal Pictures’s Frankenstein () and its sequel Bride Of Frankenstein (), both directed by James Whale, one of the few openly gay men in Hollywood at that time. The biggest exception to this literary erasure is, ironically enough, the most iconic and celebrated screen versions of Shelley’s work, Universal Pictures’s Frankenstein () and its sequel Bride Of Frankenstein (), both directed by James Whale, one of the few openly gay men in Hollywood at that time.
Lauritsen poses a bold and controversial challenge to the entrenched literary establishment as well as to postmodern feminist critics who have claimed Mary as one of their heroines in a male-dominated literary canon. How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?
Overall, I think Lauritsen does an admirable job of doing this, though I think that a weakness in the text is his failure to include how his own personal psychology involves itself in his writing. Lauritsen is known as a gay liberationist who co-authored, with David Thorstad, The Early Homosexual Rights Movement back in These are powerful—and provocative—contributions.
My curiosity about Frankenstein was confirmed when I left academia to become an activist. I said, I did not belong to that class of men who are offended by advice. His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath: his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing: his teeth of a pearly whiteness. Shelley wrote Frankenstein just before her second daughter’s birth and married Shelley just before the novel’s publication after his first wife had committed suicide.
I once had a friend, the most noble of human creatures, and am entitled, therefore, to judge respecting friendship. The Age of Frankenstein, as the critic Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick called this period in England, was one in which gay men suffered constant fear of exposure and arrest, which could result in a sentence. As a key piece of evidence, Lauritsen explains how there are two versions of Frankenstein that differ markedly.
Throughout the novel, Shelley explores the social abhorrence toward homosexuality by couching it in the more socially acceptable terms of the growing machine age. Provocative not just because Lauritsen contends that Frankenstein principally revolves around themes of romantic same-sex love, but because he furthermore proposes that the tale was written by a male homosexual—the great Percy Shelley, no less.
One day I mentioned to him the desire I had always felt of finding a friend who might sympathize with me, and direct me by his counsel. Others argued that Frankenstein was a feminist take on the male envy of female procreation. Throughout the novel, Shelley explores the gay frankenstein abhorrence toward homosexuality by couching it in the more socially acceptable terms of the growing machine age.
Frankenstein is a novel that explores the destructive possibility of both ambition and sexuality, making the text a wonderful gateway for discussions about LGBTQ+ themes. You have hope, and the world before you, and have no cause for despair. Homoeroticism continues to lurk throughout the novel, just as Frankenstein’s monster lurks in the English countryside, waiting to reappear. But I—I have lost everything, and cannot begin life anew.
Despite how trapped I was by the various ideologies of the academy, I was also claiming my gay identity for the first time, and I began to see that I could think for myself, if only a little.
The biggest exception to this literary erasure is, ironically enough, the most iconic and celebrated screen versions of Shelley’s work, Universal Pictures’s Frankenstein () and its sequel Bride Of Frankenstein (), both directed by James Whale, one of the few openly gay men in Hollywood at that time.
Walton's first four letters are perfect for opening up discussions about how friendship, sexuality and gender were used to structure the society Shelley was writing in. For example, consider how Captain Walton writes to his sister about rescuing a now broken Victor Frankenstein, washed up by the sea and by life. However, Frankenstein is more than happy to travel alone with Clerval for two full years while fulfilling his engagement with the creature, yet again showing his preference for his male companion.
In my opinion, it is imperative that all gay writings further develop a gay frankenstein approach to subject matter that addresses our psychic potential as gay people—as well as insidiously destructive internal violence—in an upfront way. However, Frankenstein is more than happy to travel alone with Clerval for two full years while fulfilling his engagement with the creature, yet again showing his preference for his male companion.
What makes this book additionally relevant and cutting-edge, I think, is that Lauritsen attempts to psychoanalyze the work. Walton's first four letters are perfect for opening up discussions about how friendship, sexuality and gender were used to structure the society Shelley was writing in. Frankenstein is a novel that explores the destructive possibility of both ambition and sexuality, making the text a wonderful gateway for discussions about LGBTQ+ themes.
Homoeroticism continues to lurk throughout the novel, just as Frankenstein’s monster lurks in the English countryside, waiting to reappear. Shelley wrote Frankenstein just before her second daughter’s birth and married Shelley just before the novel’s publication after his first wife had committed suicide.