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                      Machine or Monument
                              A d v e r t i s e m e n t
          In the Parable of the Ship’s Master (pages 12 & 146),
domestic affection is advanced, after some difficulty, through the
agency of the hero. The parable, not only provides strong evidence
that Mary Shelley meant what she wrote in the preface, but also
suggests that, like the hero in the parable, she may have had to
distance herself from the object of her affection.  Indeed, the
unhappy Creature is left by the author in a condition rather like that
of the young woman in the parable, when she appears to have been
abandoned by the hero. The robust reader will appreciate the
possibility that Mary Shelley’s apparent abandonment is motivated
by the same interest as the hero’s in the parable. Point of view may
be as critical in understanding Shelley’s motive as it is the hero’s
and will contrast interestingly with Leonard Wolf idea of Mary’s
fear of abandonment as the impetus for the novel.
      When it was announced that Talk of the Nation’s Book Club of
the Air had selected Frankenstein for its January 1996 meeting, one
of the contributors to this volume wrote to the program’s host,
urging consideration of the preface and warning of some of the
pitfalls commonly encountered in discussions of Shelley’s famous
novel. Several contributors listened to the program, and some of
their thoughts concerning it are included in this book, beginning
with the advertisement on page 30.
     Generally speaking, the book club members either express views
that are consistent with the Saville perspective or they express
views that are consistent with Walton’s perspective. The former
requires that some parts of Walton’s account be used to determine
the significance of others. In this way,  the Savilles see something
happening of which Uncle Bob is unaware, as shown on pages 12 &
14. For the Savilles, the text is like a machine. Walton views the
text as a memorial or monument to the gifted Victor Frankenstein
and  does not see that the text has parts that may be operated to
reveal something hidden.
     We trust the reader will understand that we do not mean to be
unkind to those who express views consistent with Walton’s
perspective. We know of no one who grasps Mary Shelley’s
machinery of universal virtue and operates it successfully from the
outset. As Godwin explains in Political Justice, such understanding
requires repeated trial and review.  We do not assume that the
Waltonian expressions of some of the book club members
necessarily reflect their views today or will tomorrow.
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              To a Candid World, Copyright 1998,  Thomas Wolfsehr