Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, Frankenstein, is considered the world’s first true science fiction novel, but it wasn’t born out of a desire to write the story.
Instead, it happened due to a volcanic eruption on Mount Tambora, which is now in modern-day Indonesia. The eruption, which is still considered the most powerful volcanic event around the world, led to a global climate crisis.
Frankenstein was originally published as The Modern Prometheus under an anonymous name, and Shelley’s eventual husband, Percy Shelley, was originally believed to be the author. Eventually, his wife was accredited, and it’s been the source of many a story since. The name of the novel is actually that of the scientist — not the monster — with the monster simply known as “Frankenstein’s Monster.”
Yet, writing the novel wasn’t something that was planned for years. It all bore from the volcanic eruption on Mount Tambora, which led to so much sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere that it created a climate crisis. Many now know the next summer as “The Year Without Summer,” as crops failed, and Shelley was trapped indoors with her husband and some friends due to the gloomy rain.
To make the most of it, they decided to set each other a challenge: to write a ghost story.
Shelley didn’t quite opt for a ghost story. Instead, she wanted to tell the story of a scientist who created life only to be horrified by what he’d done. Deciding that she had a work of art, she published it in 1818 anonymously. The first time her name was attached was in 1831.
Since its publication, Frankenstein has been used as inspiration for a number of pieces of art. It’s also been adapted into TV shows and movies, and there have been other tales to tell the story of a younger Victor Frankenstein and the creature. The most recent of those movies is the Netflix release from 2025 starring Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi as The Creature and Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, and it is Certified Fresh with an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
As a side note, it wouldn't be the only classic masterpiece created that weekend. John Polidori wrote The Vampyre, which would become the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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