"It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original area of my being. I saw, felt, heard, and smelt, at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various sense. It was dark when I awoke..." (86)
When I read Frankenstein, this section of the novel was by far my favorite. I loved hearing about the Monster's story of experiencing life and finding the cabin and watching the family. I didnt think it could be done in any other way, but when I read the graphic version of this section, I was astonished by the way Grimly portrayed this section. I absolutely loved the way he made only a few words here and there appear in the text; this was such a beautiful way of showing Frankenstein's growing understanding of language. My question is, if you have read the original novel, what was your favorite translation in the Grimly graphic novel?
I completely agree with you on how I felt reading (or rather looking at? Observing? What is the correct term when you're "reading" images???) this section of the story. In this particular sequence we saw that images can sometimes convey so much more than describing the actual scene or experience can. As a writer this kind of frustrated me, because in the original Frankenstein, as you also said, this is one of my favorite parts of the story. I was also shocked at how different it was, and that I liked it, possibly more? I'm not sure though, it's been a few years since I read the book. If anything, this version reminded me that I really need to go and reread the original. Does that make this not a good remix then, if it just makes me long for the original?
ReplyDeleteI think this is a cheating answer, but I actually really liked the handwritten letters throughout - reading and seeing those gave the text an almost "found" feeling, like we readers are discovering all these years later the letters and manuscript as they were originally compiled. I normally struggle with epistolary works, but when it actually looks like a letter (instead of the same font and layout as the rest of the text) it was much more engaging.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, I thought the letters really added to the overall story. One of the other elements was the red banners shown in the trial of Justine scene. I got a nazi vibe from it. I do not know if theres supposed to be an underlying message there or it just happened to be similar.
DeleteThis was also my favorite part, and my favorite translation from the original. It helped me to empathize with the monster in a way I wasn't able to through the original text, and I think by using little to no words until the very end of the chapter was genius. Just the juxtaposition of this section being about the monster learning language, with no language used is super cool, and I enjoyed it a lot!
ReplyDeleteHaving never read the original text, I'm not exactly in the best position to compare the two formats of this section. However, I was certainly in awe of how Grimly portrayed it, and a large part of that, like Abby says here, is the clever use of language. Part of what was particularly striking to me was how very articulate the creature comes across in those few moments when he is speaking. This may be because there are so few words that I paid extra attention to them, but it certainly seemed like he was far more intelligent than Victor. Not sure if this is as evident in the original, but I am a huge fan of the juxtaposition's effectiveness.
DeleteI think anytime you find a "remixed" version that manages to tell the same story but in a remarkably different way, there's a kind of victorious thrill! I've not read Shelley's original text in long enough (20 years or so!) that I have any authentic recall of it; however, when I read this for the first time (about 4 years ago?) I felt like my experience was in no way lacking and in fact several moments felt like they couldn't possibly have been as successful verbally as visually.
ReplyDeleteNot really an answer so much as a comment inspired by your question. ;-)
I directly thought of synesthesia when reading the quote for a second time. Each sense activated something different in Frankenstein. Frankenstein's understanding of the world around him was interesting.
ReplyDeleteI thought the entire final scene was both beautiful and poetic visually. By the end of the book, these images stuck with me far beyond anything else in the book!
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