Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), credited to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Read by Cori Samuel. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by the British author Mary Shelley. Shelley wrote the novel when she was 18 years old. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818, and this audiobook is read from that text. Shelley's name appeared on the revised third edition, published in 1831. The title of the novel refers to the scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of man, but larger than average and more powerful. In modern popular culture, people have tended to refer to the Creature as "Frankenstein" (especially in films since 1931), despite this being the name of the scientist, and the creature being unnamed in the book itself. Frankenstein is a novel infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the "over-reaching" of modern man and the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. It is arguably considered the first fully-realised science fiction novel and raises many issues still relevant to today's society. (Summary from wikipedia.org, adapted by Cori Samuel.)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)
• Author credits: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 29
• Listed recording duration: 7:59:15

Catalogue topics

• fiction
• horror
• science
• science fiction

Opening tracks: first 24 of 29

1. 01 - Dedication and Preface — 4:36
2. 02 - Vol. I, Letter I — 7:51
3. 03 - Vol. I, Letter II — 6:50
4. 04 - Vol. I, Letter III — 1:50
5. 05 - Vol. I, Letter IV — 14:44
6. 06 - Vol. I, Chapter I — 19:59
7. 07 - Vol. I, Chapter II — 15:16
8. 08 - Vol. I, Chapter III — 17:23
9. 09 - Vol. I, Chapter IV — 15:39
10. 10 - Vol. I, Chapter V — 17:29
11. 11 - Vol. I, Chapter VI — 24:57
12. 12 - Vol. I, Chapter VII — 19:48
13. 13 - Vol. II, Chapter I — 13:42
14. 14 - Vol. II, Chapter II — 14:56
15. 15 - Vol. II, Chapter III — 18:23
16. 16 - Vol. II, Chapter IV — 13:54
17. 17 - Vol. II, Chapter V — 14:13
18. 18 - Vol. II, Chapter VI — 11:36
19. 19 - Vol. II, Chapter VII — 20:30
20. 20 - Vol. II, Chapter VIII — 19:55
21. 21 - Vol. II, Chapter IX — 12:57
22. 22 - Vol. III, Chapter I — 18:02
23. 23 - Vol. III, Chapter II — 16:02
24. 24 - Vol. III, Chapter III — 22:42

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.