A Bravura Update of a Gothic Classic: On Addie Tsai’s “Unwieldy Creatures”

"Unwieldy Creatures"

I’d have called this review “The Post-Modern Prometheus,” but The X-Files got there first.

There’s a strong case that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein — not to be confused with the Kenneth Branagh-directed film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein — is the most influential work of fiction published since 1800. There are huge swaths of science fiction narratives in which humanity creates a new form of life only to see it rebel; it’s not hard to place Frankenstein at the heart of that.

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Bites: Stephen Elliott in Williamsburg, McSweeney’s Broadsheet, the Original Gossip Girl, Lethem Recommends Poe, Balloon boy FAQ, and more

Stephen Elliott hung out  in Williamsburg (went hard, if you will) and wrote about it on The Rumpus. Lit. Largehearted Boy reviews Nick Hornby’s Juliet, Naked. McSweeney’s to publish an old-fashioned, Sunday edition-sized broadsheet: San Francisco Panorama Jonathan Lethem  recommends on Daily Beast Edgar Allen Poe’s only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, and describes it as “the missing link between Mary Shelley and Herman Melville.” My kind of narrative. On Willa Cather’s development as a novelist. […]

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Bites: Herzog’s La Bohème, Why Blog?, New Maugham Bio, Prometheus’ Authorship, more

  Werner Herzog’s characteristically bizarre short film The Millions thinks the New Yorker’s been exceptional lately.  We cosign, wholeheartedly. Emdashes proposes a panel called “Why Keep Blogging?” for next March’s South by Southwest interactive festival.  Help her out by showing your support. There’s a new biography of Somerset Maugham: The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selena Hastings. Revisiting the question of authorship in Frankenstein. How much carbon dioxide are you helping emit RIGHT NOW?

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