text:
Kids' Music Legend Laurie Berkner - Free Live-Streamed Concerts - Weekdays - 10 AM EDT
FROM HER HOUSE TO YOURS!
KIDS' MUSIC LEGEND
INVITES FAMILIES TO JOIN HER
FOR LIVE "BERKNER BREAK" CONCERTS
STREAMED MOST WEEKDAYS AT 10:00 AM EDT
"The queen of kids' music" – People magazine
"The Adele of the preschool crowd."– The New York Times
""Laurie Berkner does what Fred Rogers did: respect, validate and reassure young children.""– Los Angeles Times
NEW YORK – Stuck inside right now? Legendary children's musician Laurie Berkner is here to help kids and parents find a routine, get up and move, and learn and play together. And it's all free of charge.
Families can join Laurie, direct from her house, for LIVE "Berkner Break" concerts, streamed most weekday mornings at 10:00 a.m. EDT on her Facebook page: HERE. Laurie offers an abundance of songs, playful movement activities, stories, and more, performing such well-loved favorites as "We Are The Dinosaurs" and "The Goldfish (Let's Go Swimming)," plus educational earworms like "Waiting For The Elevator" and "Look At All The Letters." Laurie creates an entire world of song and expression in which enthusiasm and respect for the growing child is front and center, with emotional development sitting right alongside intellectual development.
Additionally, each weekday on Laurie's social media, she's posting a video of one of her songs for a morning Berkner Breakfast (7:00 a.m. EDT), an afternoon Berkner Break (3:00 p.m. EDT), and an evening Berkner Bedtime (7:00 p.m. EDT).
Laurie Berkner has also created a 50-minute "Educational Music Videos" compilation on her YouTube channel: HERE. Kids can practice and learn with Laurie as they watch this compilation of over 20 music videos that focus on counting, the alphabet, telling time, emotions, and so much more.
One of the most popular children's entertainers in the U.S., Laurie Berkner has filled countless venues nationwide with adoring fans. With an average of more than ten million monthly streams and millions of albums, songs, and DVDs sold, Laurie's songs have become beloved classics for children worldwide. The first artist to ever appear in music videos on Nick Jr., Laurie Berkner was featured in nearly all the episodes of the channel's Jack's Big Music Show. Laurie recently created her own Audible Original Series titled Laurie Berkner's Song and Story Kitchen. She has released thirteen bestselling, award-winning albums and is a familiar radio presence on SiriusXM's Kids Place Live. Laurie has authored a number of picture books based on her songs, the most recent of which were published by Simon & Schuster. She has also written the music and lyrics for three Off-Broadway children's musicals produced by New York City Children's Theater. Laurie has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the White House, among many other prestigious venues.
Laurie Berkner has received tremendous critical acclaim. USA Today named Laurie "the undisputed queen of kindie rock." Time Magazine lauded her as "a kind of sippy-cup Sheryl Crow ... Berkner inhabits a kid's curious perspective in her lyrics and pens folk-pop melodies that bear repeated -- very repeated -- listenings." The Wall Street Journal called Laurie "one of the most popular children's performers in America ... her music is distinctive because it speaks to kids without talking down to them, charming youngsters without boring grown-ups." NPR's All Things Considered declared, "Laurie Berkner is like a goddess to these children."
Visit Laurie Berkner's website HERE.
Laurie Berkner on Facebook.
Laurie Berkner on Instagram.
Laurie Berkner on Twitter.
Laurie Berkner on Pinterest.
Laurie Berkner on YouTube.
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HomeBooksScience Fiction & Fantasy
Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus
by Mary Wollstonecraft (godwin) Shelley
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is both a frightening gothic horror story and a science fiction masterpiece. Most people will be surprised to learn that Frankenstein is actually the very first example of science fiction ever written. As gothic horror it is a cautionary tale of the limits of man and science and reminds us of what happens when mankind moves forward with hubris as its motivating force.
Publisher: Wilder Publications, Inc.Released: Jun 10, 2015ISBN: 9781617208102Format: book
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Frankenstein - Mary Wollstonecraft (godwin) Shelley
or the Modern Prometheus
Mary (Wollstonecraft Godwin) Shelley
Sublime Books
Copyright © 2013 by Sublime Books
St. Petersburgh, Dec. 11th, 17—
TO Mrs. Saville, England
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.
I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour. There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators—there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine.
These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I have read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which have been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember that a history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the whole of our good Uncle Thomas' library. My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret which I had felt, as a child, on learning that my father's dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life.
These visions faded when I perused, for the first time, those poets whose effusions entranced my soul and lifted it to heaven. I also became a poet and for one year lived in a paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated. You are well acquainted with my failure and how heavily I bore the disappointment. But just at that time I inherited the fortune of my cousin, and my thoughts were turned into the channel of their earlier bent.
Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I can, even now, remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this great enterprise. I commenced by inuring my body to hardship. I accompanied the whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea; I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep; I often worked harder than the common sailors during the day and devoted my nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer might derive the greatest practical advantage. Twice I actually hired myself as an under-mate in a Greenland whaler, and acquitted myself to admiration. I must own I felt a little proud when my captain offered me the second dignity in the vessel and entreated me to remain with the greatest earnestness, so valuable did he consider my services. And now, dear Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? My life might have been passed in ease and luxury, but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative! My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed. I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage, the emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I am required not only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own, when theirs are failing.
This is the most favourable period for travelling in Russia. They fly quickly over the snow in their sledges; the motion is pleasant, and, in my opinion, far more agreeable than that of an English stagecoach. The cold is not excessive, if you are wrapped in furs—a dress which I have already adopted, for there is a great difference between walking the deck and remaining seated motionless for hours, when no exercise prevents the blood from actually freezing in your veins. I have no ambition to lose my life on the post-road between St. Petersburgh and Archangel. I shall depart for the latter town in a fortnight or three weeks; and my intention is to hire a ship there, which can easily be done by paying the insurance for the owner, and to engage as many sailors as I think necessary among those who are accustomed to the whale-fishing. I do not intend to sail until the month of June; and when shall I return? Ah, dear sister, how can I answer this question? If I succeed, many, many months, perhaps years, will pass before you and I may meet. If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never. Farewell, my dear, excellent Margaret. Heaven shower down blessings on you, and save me, that I may again and again testify my gratitude for all your love and kindness.
Your affectionate brother, R. Walton
Archangel, 28th March, 17—
How slowly the time passes here, encompassed as I am by frost and snow! Yet a second step is taken towards my enterprise. I have hired a vessel and am occupied in collecting my sailors; those whom I have already engaged appear to be men on whom I can depend and are certainly possessed of dauntless courage.
But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans. How would such a friend repair the faults of your poor brother! I am too ardent in execution and too impatient of difficulties. But it is a still greater evil to me that I am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on a common and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas' books of voyages. At that age I became acquainted with the celebrated poets of our own country; but it was only when it had ceased to be in my power to derive its most important benefits from such a conviction that I perceived the necessity of becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my native country. Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen. It is true that I have thought more and that my daydreams are more extended and magnificent, but they want (as the painters call it) KEEPING; and I greatly need a friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind. Well, these are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen. Yet some feelings, unallied to the dross of human nature, beat even in these rugged bosoms. My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of wonderful courage and enterprise; he is madly desirous of glory, or rather, to word my phrase more characteristically, of advancement in his profession. He is an Englishman, and in the midst of national and professional prejudices, unsoftened by cultivation, retains some of the noblest endowments of humanity. I first became acquainted with him on board a whale vessel; finding that he was unemployed in this city, I easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise. The master is a person of an excellent disposition and is remarkable in the ship for his gentleness and the mildness of his discipline. This circumstance, added to his well-known integrity and dauntless courage, made me very desirous to engage him. A youth passed in solitude, my best years spent under your gentle and feminine fosterage, has so refined the groundwork of my character that I cannot overcome an intense distaste to the usual brutality exercised on board ship: I have never believed it to be necessary, and when I heard of a mariner equally noted for his kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience paid to him by his crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his services. I heard of him first in rather a romantic manner, from a lady who owes to him the happiness of her life. This, briefly, is his story. Some years ago he loved a young Russian lady of moderate fortune, and having amassed a considerable sum in prize-money, the father of the girl consented to the match. He saw his mistress once before the destined ceremony; but she was bathed in tears, and throwing herself at his feet, entreated him to spare her, confessing at the same time that she loved another, but that he was poor, and that her father would never consent to the union. My generous friend reassured the suppliant, and on being informed of the name of her lover, instantly abandoned his pursuit. He had already bought a farm with his money, on which he had designed to pass the remainder of his life; but he bestowed the whole on his rival, together with the remains of his prize-money to purchase stock, and then himself solicited the young woman's father to consent to her marriage with her lover. But the old man decidedly refused, thinking himself bound in honour to my friend, who, when he found the father inexorable, quitted his country, nor returned until he heard that his former mistress was married according to her inclinations. What a noble fellow! you will exclaim. He is so; but then he is wholly uneducated: he is as silent as a Turk, and a kind of ignorant carelessness attends him, which, while it renders his conduct the more astonishing, detracts from the interest and sympathy which otherwise he would command.
Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I can conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am wavering in my resolutions. Those are as fixed as fate, and my voyage is only now delayed until the weather shall permit my embarkation. The winter has been dreadfully severe, but the spring promises well, and it is considered as a remarkably early season, so that perhaps I may sail sooner than I expected. I shall do nothing rashly: you know me sufficiently to confide in my prudence and considerateness whenever the safety of others is committed to my care.
I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my undertaking. It is impossible to communicate to you a conception of the trembling sensation, half pleasurable and half fearful, with which I am preparing to depart. I am going to unexplored regions, to the land of mist and snow, but I shall kill no albatross; therefore do not be alarmed for my safety or if I should come back to you as worn and woeful as the Ancient Mariner. You will smile at my allusion, but I will disclose a secret. I have often attributed my attachment to, my passionate enthusiasm for, the dangerous mysteries of ocean to that production of the most imaginative of modern poets. There is something at work in my soul which I do not understand. I am practically industrious—painstaking, a workman to execute with perseverance and labour—but besides this there is a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited regions I am about to explore. But to return to dearer considerations. Shall I meet you again, after having traversed immense seas, and returned by the most southern cape of Africa or America? I dare not expect such success, yet I cannot bear to look on the reverse of the picture. Continue for the present to write to me by every opportunity: I may receive your letters on some occasions when I need them most to support my spirits. I love you very tenderly. Remember me with affection, should you never hear from me again.
Your affectionate brother, Robert Walton
July 7th, 17—
My dear Sister,
I write a few lines in haste to say that I am safe—and well advanced on my voyage. This letter will reach England by a merchantman now on its homeward voyage from Archangel; more fortunate than I, who may not see my native land, perhaps, for many years. I am, however, in good spirits: my men are bold and apparently firm of purpose, nor do the floating sheets of ice that continually pass us, indicating the dangers of the region towards which we are advancing, appear to dismay them. We have already reached a very high latitude; but it is the height of summer, and although not so warm as in England, the southern gales, which blow us speedily towards those shores which I so ardently desire to attain, breathe a degree of renovating warmth which I had not expected.
No incidents have hitherto befallen us that would make a figure in a letter. One or two stiff gales and the springing of a leak are accidents which experienced navigators scarcely remember to record, and I shall be well content if nothing worse happen to us during our voyage.
Adieu, my dear Margaret. Be assured that for my own sake, as well as yours, I will not rashly encounter danger. I will be cool, persevering, and prudent.
But success SHALL crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas, the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?
My swelling heart involuntarily pours itself out thus. But I must finish. Heaven bless my beloved sister!
R.W.
August 5th, 17—
So strange an accident has happened to us that I cannot forbear recording it, although it is very probable that you will see me before these papers can come into your possession.
Last Monday (July 31st) we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides, scarcely leaving her the sea-room in which she floated. Our situation was somewhat dangerous, especially as we were compassed round by a very thick fog. We accordingly lay to, hoping that some change would take place in the atmosphere and weather.
About two o'clock the mist cleared away, and we beheld, stretched out in every direction, vast and irregular plains of ice, which seemed to have no end. Some of my comrades groaned, and my own mind began to grow watchful with anxious thoughts, when a strange sight suddenly attracted our attention and diverted our solicitude from our own situation. We perceived a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a mile; a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge and guided the dogs. We watched the rapid progress of the traveller with our telescopes until he was lost among the distant inequalities of the ice. This appearance excited our unqualified wonder. We were, as we believed, many hundred miles from any land; but this apparition seemed to denote that it was not, in reality, so distant as we had supposed. Shut in, however, by ice, it was impossible to follow his track, which we had observed with the greatest attention. About two hours after this occurrence we heard the ground sea, and before night the ice broke and freed our ship. We, however, lay to until the morning, fearing to encounter in the dark those large loose masses which float about after the breaking up of the ice. I profited of this time to rest for a few hours.
In the morning, however, as soon as it was light, I went upon deck and found all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel, apparently talking to someone in the sea. It was, in fact, a sledge, like that we had seen before, which had drifted towards us in the night on a large fragment of ice. Only one dog remained alive; but there was a human being within it whom the sailors were persuading to enter the vessel. He was not, as the other traveller seemed to be, a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island, but a European. When I appeared on deck the master said, Here is our captain, and he will not allow you to perish on the open sea.
On perceiving me, the stranger addressed me in English, although with a foreign accent. Before I come on board your vessel, said he, will you have the kindness to inform me whither you are bound?
You may conceive my astonishment on hearing such a question addressed to me from a man on the brink of destruction and to whom I should have supposed that my vessel would have been a resource which he would not have exchanged for the most precious wealth the earth can afford. I replied, however, that we were on a voyage of discovery towards the northern pole.
Upon hearing this he appeared satisfied and consented to come on board. Good God! Margaret, if you had seen the man who thus capitulated for his safety, your surprise would have been boundless. His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never saw a man in so wretched a condition. We attempted to carry him into the cabin, but as soon as he had quitted the fresh air he fainted. We accordingly brought him back to the deck and restored him to animation by rubbing him with brandy and forcing him to swallow a small quantity. As soon as he showed signs of life we wrapped him up in blankets and placed him near the chimney of the kitchen stove. By slow degrees he recovered and ate a little soup, which restored him wonderfully.
Two days passed in this manner before he was able to speak, and I often feared that his sufferings had deprived him of understanding. When he had in some measure recovered, I removed him to my own cabin and attended on him as much as my duty would permit. I never saw a more interesting creature: his eyes have generally an expression of wildness, and even madness, but there are moments when, if anyone performs an act of kindness towards him or does him any the most trifling service, his whole countenance is lighted up, as it were, with a beam of benevolence and sweetness that I never saw equalled. But he is generally melancholy and despairing, and sometimes he gnashes his teeth, as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him.
When my guest was a little recovered I had great trouble to keep off the men, who wished to ask him a thousand questions; but I would not allow him to be tormented by their idle curiosity, in a state of body and mind whose restoration evidently depended upon entire repose. Once, however, the lieutenant asked why he had come so far
dalepeters_1Go to dalepeters_1's profile
Disappointing, especially for such a highly regarded "classic". 5% action, 95% describing how everyone *feels* about what just happened.
cindywho-1Go to cindywho-1's profile
This is another one I'd just never gotten around to reading. The story is far from what popular culture has made of it (I confess I was most familiar with the Young Frankenstein version) The monster is much more vocal and interesting. Victor is kind of a weenie and it's all a bit overwrought. I listened to the audiobook from the classic tales podcast and the narrator was pretty good, obviously enjoying all the "begone!s" and "wretchs"
aseikoniaGo to aseikonia's profile
This is the second or third time I've read this and it's just as marvelous as before. A tale within a tale within a tale by a literary mastermind at the height of her genius.
moniquesnyman-1Go to moniquesnyman-1's profile
A classic isn't a called a classic because it's a run-of-the-mill type of book. It's a groundbreaking novel/movie/song that inspires people and stays with you forever, and it's likely that it won't be topped in one, two or sometimes three generations. A classic is a classic because it's unique, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is definitely a classic. The prose is beautiful, the story is gripping and the book itself is absolutely breathtaking. As far as horror is concerned, this is one of those must-have classics that you can revisit every couple of years.
But we all know the story about Frankenstein and the monster he creates out of body parts. We all know who Igor is and what happens in the end, I mean, if you haven't read the book then you've probably watched one of the movies, right? So, instead of going on and on about the plot we all know about, I'm going to talk about the beautiful book. Seriously, this is one super pretty book. It's in Penguin Books' horror series, recently brought out for horror fans that includes five other fantastic titles (American Supernatural Tales was one of them). This is one pretty edition for one creepy tale ... in other words, you'll freaking love it if you have a thing for horror books. Also, I'm pretty sure it'll be a collectors edition in the not-so-distant future.
If that doesn't appeal to you, and you need a little something extra, rest assured that I can sweeten the pot for those folks on the edge. Guillermo Del Toro is the series' editor and there's a nice little introduction by him. Yes, he's not all movies all the time, sometimes this horror director makes time for books too!
So, yes it's pretty, yes it's a great edition and yes, the editing is great. As far as I'm concerned you can donate your other editions of Frankenstein to the less fortunate, because this one just looks so much better on a bookshelf.
reading_foxGo to reading_fox's profile
Seminal fantasy work, one of the early defining books of fantasy genre. Shame it isn't more readable though I suspect that's just my more modern tastes.
jonfaithGo to jonfaith's profile
As an eight year old child, I found myself in love with horror films. It was a Scholastic Press survey of horror cinema for children which appeared to crystallize this fascination. It was terrible time for a kid. We had moved twice in four years and my mom had left. My dad was traveling for work and a series of housekeepers and sitters were keeping the home fires burning. It is no surprise that I was reading all the time and staying up too late watching inappropriate films on television. That said, I was never drawn to Frankenstein.
The father of some neighborhood friends used to proclaim the superiority of all the Universal films, especially to the hyper-gore films of the late 70s. I could agree with Bela Lugosi or Claude Rains (as the Invisible Man) but I wasn't moved by Lon Cheney Jr's Wolf Man or the lump of clay which was Frankenstein's monster. It remains elusive to distinguish.
It was with muted hopes that I finally read Frankenstein this past week. I was pleasantly surprised by the rigid plot which slowly shifts, allowing the Madness of the Fallen to Reap Vengeance on the Creator (and vice versa). Sure, it is laden with symbols and encoded thoughts on Reason, Science and Class. Frankenstein remains an engaging novel by a teenager, one doomed by fate. It is prescient and foreboding. Highly recommended.
jalenv_2Go to jalenv_2's profile
My sympathies are with the monster. Victor von Frankenstein was a responsibility-avoiding, self-absorbed jerk!
mdabrilGo to mdabril's profile
Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite books, but it's important to understand why people like my enjoy it. If you haven't read the book, it may not be what you think.I love Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. To be clear, she is not the best author ever. Some aspects of her writing are a little juvenile and at times ever downright boring. Even though she herself was a woman, her female characters tend to be somewhat shallow and idealistic. Nevertheless, Shelley has a unique and gifted mind that is almost even prophetic in character. Her novel "The Last Man," for example, is one of the first to imagine the extinction of the human race, which is now a real possibility and an important area of thought. Similarly, Frankenstein is not altogether novel, since it builds heavily on earlier Romantic language, concepts, and images especially from Goethe and Mary's husband Percy Shelley. Nevertheless, she outdoes them by imagining in a prophetic way what the technological creation of new life could mean for the human person.With this in mind, let's be clear that Frankenstein is NOT a scary book, NOT about some dim-witted or pathetic monster, and NOT a source of cheap chills and thrills. It is first and foremost about the scientist who creates the monster. He does so out of a genius that unites both modern science and premodern thinking. Specifically how he makes the monster is beside the point; Shelley is secretive on this matter so that we do not get lost. It is not evident, for example, that he makes it from corpses; he uses corpses for study, but he seems to fashion the monster directly.The principle point of the book, therefore, is the emotion of Frankenstein as he comes to terms with his own creation. That which he fashioned to be beautiful, wonderful, superior to humanity turns out in fact to be hideous, ugly, and terrifying. The monster is superior to his maker in intelligence and power but not morality, and this forces Frankenstein to face his own unworthiness as a creator.Thus while Frankenstein the book is born out of Romantic ideas about the genius, the excellence of humanity, and the transcendence of the Promethean man--the one who dares to challenge the gods by taking upon himself the act of creation--it also profoundly serves as a counterpoint to the same Romantic spirit. This new Prometheus turns out to be a mere, weak man, who cannot quite come to terms with what he has created. Thus like her book "The Last Man," Shelley poses a vital question: Is humanity really still the gem of creation, or will the transcending force of nature ultimately leave us behind in the dust from whence we came?Frankenstein is thus a book that every reader of English should engage at some time. It would help, however, to have some familiarity with Romanticism (see an encyclopedia) and to spend some time reading some poems by other Romantic writers such as Percy Shelley. A brief look into Mary Wollstonecraft's Shelley biography might help as well, since I would argue that she is deeply shaped by the continual tragedies of her life, including the loss of her mother at an early age and a complex relationship with her father.
deusxmachina-1Go to deusxmachina-1's profile
I love this book so much more than any of the movie adaptations I've ever seen (actually, for anyone seeking horror and thrill in a story, this may be a huge disappointment), but in comparison to other novels of that genre and time period it's far from being flawless.I love the ideas in this story - the idea that one has to take responsibility for their creations, the idea that a being can be as gentle and good as a lamb, it will inevitably become a monster if it experiences nothing but rejection, the idea that just because something is scientifically possible doesn't mean that it should be done. Despite all the Romantic dressing up in this novel that makes it very clearly a product of its age, these premises are still modern and relevant.My gripe is with the characters. I'm aware that this is probably the 21st century reader in me, but - gods almighty, that Victor is a pathetic, self-absorbed piece of selfpity, full of "woe is me", much more fixated on his own emotions and tragic history than on the danger he has released carelessly on the world and without much reflection about his own role in this disaster. All his relationships seem shallow and superficial, and the only woman with a meaningful role in the story gets classically fridged to give him the final push.One day I'll have to read an adaptation from the wretch's point of view. His actions, reactions and justifications seem so much more interesting than Victor's.
ladypembrokeGo to ladypembroke's profile
I have thought, but this being a classic piece of literature, I'm not going to write them down for posterity. That never served me well in lit classes, and I don't foresee it going well on the internet.
maryh10000Go to maryh10000's profile
Considered by many to be the first science fiction novel.
maddi-815887Go to maddi-815887's profile
It's a wonderful, intense and superbly written novel.Don't be afraid to read it even if you don't like the genre.
kellyholmes-1Go to kellyholmes-1's profile
A chilling tale! I read this in high school, which was a while ago, but even thinking about it now gives me the creeps.
ladycalamityGo to ladycalamity's profile
Amazing book. It's so much more than I thought it would be. Very interesting!
drardavisGo to drardavis's profile
Despite its 19th century style and vocabulary this story still horrifies, partly because the gruesome details are left to the imagination. Victor Frankenstein does not reveal how he reanimates the creature. Stephen King would have spent several bloody chapters arranging the guts and brains and eyeballs. The motion picture image of the creature is only supported by Shelley's description of the watery yellow eyes and the straight black lips. The pearly white teeth, lustrous flowing black hair, limbs in proportion, and beautiful features give a more godlike aspect to the monster. The violence is barely described. A dead body with finger prints on its throat. An execution. Some screams and sticks and stones to drive the creature out of a cottage. Even the death of Victor's fiancee is but a muffled scream in a distant bedroom and a body on the bed. The true horror is symbolic, mythical, ethical, and metaphysical. Mary Shelley describes the consequences of hubris in prose while her husband gives a similar image poetically in Ozymandias. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair."
faith_murriGo to faith_murri's profile
Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.
I have to admit, I was somewhat weary of this book. Despite its short page count, it is very wordy and has long, large paragraphs, and that made the prospect of reading this rather daunting. However, I swallowed my pride and did it, and was greatly rewarded.
I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.
Frankenstein and his creature are both so interesting and complex; they're also both so pitiful. So much of their anguish and sorrow could have been avoided if not for human pride. They are both agents of horror and destruction in both action and inaction, and that made for a really interesting story.
Besides that, it's extremely quotable.
Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.
I was amazed at how Hollywood has continuously gotten the story wrong, so much so that this book felt entirely unique and the twists were effective. I don't know whether I should scorn or love Hollywood for their utter failure to accurately adapt this book into a faithful film. On one hand, this book deserves a great movie. On the other, the plot integrity of a very old book was maintained. The television show Penny Dreadful had a Frankenstein story line that was remarkably close to the source material considering, and the few big changes it made were justified in the larger story.
I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.
The themes in this were amazing! I love complex characters and dark, ambiguous morality in my literature. To be completely honest, I sympathized with Frankenstein way more than the monster, which I hadn't thought I would going into it. I loved both characters though.
Overall, it's a great book with an awesome story, and everyone should read it.
solitaryfossilGo to solitaryfossil's profile
Why did I wait so long to read this? An excellent novel and highly recommended. Wonderful.
khrystibooksGo to khrystibooks's profile
This book was excellently written and very philosophical, and way depressing. It's also very worth reading.
jbarringer-2Go to jbarringer-2's profile
I wanted to like this book more than I did. The story of Frankenstein is in pop-culture enough that I knew pretty well what the book was about. What I didn't expect was how pathetic Frankenstein is, whining about everything and taking almost no responsibility for his own thoughts and actions. He gets awfully dramatic about his early education, as if he could really blame one conversation in his youth for his entire adult obsession over making his monster. Similarly, the monster seems incapable of taking responsibility for his choices and actions, even after he has become the articulate, intelligent creature he is when he starts killing people. I suppose if Frankenstein is a restrained sociopath, and Frankenstein is an expression of his repressed fantasies, maybe it makes some sense, but since Frankenstein narrates most of the story (in his whining style) I found this book to be a slow and not-so enjoyable read.
fyrefly98Go to fyrefly98's profile
Summary: Victor Frankenstein, the son of a wealthy Geneva family, was encouraged in his pursuit of the study of the natural sciences, and from his reading gleans the idea of creating life from non-life. So he builds a creature from human body parts, and animates it, and is then struck by the horror of what he's done, during which time the monster escapes. It soon learns that it is monstrous, and by hiding in a shed near a house with a family, learns language. It vows vengeance on Frankenstein, for creating it and abandoning it, and proceeds to kill those that Frankenstein loves, and to destroy his every chance for happiness.Review: This was a really fascinating read, and made for a surprisingly intense discussion at book club. I'd grown up with the pop-culture monster image in my head, and I knew enough to know that Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster (although does his behavior make him the one that's truly monstrous? Discuss.), but I'd never before read the actual book. I was surprised how much of it doesn't match the Hollywood version, and by how much of it's from the monster's point of view - he's very articulate, which surprised me.The prose was really pretty dense - no point in saying once what you can say three times with a bunch of adjectives, I guess - and there was a lot of wailing and (metaphorical) gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, which got a little bit (a lot, actually) tiring. But I liked that it could be read on a number of levels - as a horror story, as a story about scientific ethics, as a story about the human condition and what it really means to be human, so that was all great. I also entertained myself as I was listening by seeing how far I could carry my theory that Frankenstein himself actually was murdering all those people - several times throughout the novel he goes into fits and has a fever from which he doesn't recover for several weeks, and when he does, someone else close to him is dead. It doesn't quite hold up throughout the entire story, but I thought it made an interesting possibility. 3.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: I didn't love it, but it's absolutely worth reading, both to get the real scoop on the mad-scientist cliche, and to provide lots of really interesting possibilities for debate with others.
soylentgreen23Go to soylentgreen23's profile
The Good: The quality of this story, in terms of the ideas it contains and the philosophical musings it provokes, is far greater than that of the various movie versions.The Bad: The quality of the writing is not always equal to the quality of the story. This is very much a book written by a relatively young woman, trying to impress a literary scene with her abilities. The dialogue is very weak at times, and there are strange moments when Frankenstein collapses into a fever that last months and months, just to give his creation time to explore the world he finds himself in.The Ugly: Yes, the creature is ugly and terrible, but also very, very interesting. This thinking, moralising monster is much more worthy of our attention than the giant imbecile that haunts the cinema. Reading the story, one also wonders if the general public (or the press) has it right in describing genetically modified food as 'Frankenfoods'. The monster is only evil when he suffers the evil of society around him; he has an overwhelming capacity for love and for good.
seraphinac.b4Go to seraphinac.b4's profile
In "Frankenstein", Victor Frankenstein, a student who attended a science university, discovers how to animate dead flesh. After many months of Victor's tedious work, his monster opens its hideous, yellow eyes. It sickens Victor, who then flees to his home town, Geneva. The creature, noticing he had been abandoned by his creator, seeks revenge by destroying everything that Frankenstein loves. The creature killed Victor's brother, William. A friend,Justine, is convicted for the murder and is executed. The creature being abhorred by everyone, needs a partner to love. He finds Victor and tells him to create another one. He agrees. After starting the gruesome work, he can no longer take it. The monster coming to this knowledge, confronts and tells him and that he will be with him on his wedding night. On the night of his marriage, in a villa by the lake, Victor hears a shill then a dreadful scream, rushing to Elizabeth, he finds her dead and a disfigured human form running on the shore. Victor followed this menace into the Arctic where it was spring and the ice was fragile. Both having a sled and dogs, tread onto the frozen ocean. The heavy monster fell through the ice which was cracked due to an earthquake, but he survived. Victor died on a boat going to England. The demon killed himself when Frankenstein died. This book was interesting and "terroriffic". I would call it historical fiction. I liked this book because I can connect to the places I've been to that were mentioned in this book. I have always wanted to read this book because people said the movie wasn't the same. I liked the way the author gave human emotions to the creature. On the other hand, it was a little bit too long and drawn out. I would recommend this to someone that likes to read suspenseful books.
firecrackerscribeGo to firecrackerscribe's profile
I loved this book and can't believe how differently this story has been portrayed by American culture. Aside from the sheer disbelief that everyone who has not read the book has gotten the story so WRONG, I often found myself getting wrapped up in the eloquence of Shelley's words. The way she described some of the most mundane things was simply beautiful.
I loved the story within a story within a story. I felt it allowed us to not only see the characters as they saw themselves, but also as the respective narrator saw them. Though there were portions that I felt weren't necessary (Chapter 19 read like the most boring travel brochure ever) I appreciated most of it. Frankenstein's overall struggle and loss as a result of his "playing god" was heartbreaking.
sarahlou2709Go to sarahlou2709's profile
total classic book, one of the best books i have ever read and one of my favourite. when i read this i got goosebumps and shivers down my spine it terrified me but i could not put it down. brilliant book. must read for any horror lover.
elfortunaweGo to elfortunawe's profile
This is one of those classics that everyone knows about but that few ever actually read. The actual content of the book is so different from what people believe they know about it that I can't help but think someone (probably long dead by now, and safe from prosecution) has played an elaborate prank on the world, for reasons which will likely remain forever lost to the gentle perturbations of passing time.The story has a nested, tripartite, epistolary structure, being presented as a collection of letters by a young polar explorer named Robert Walton to his sister in England. Within this is nestled the story of the eponymous Dr. Frankenstein, who is found by the explorer and his crew on the pack ice. And comfortably holstered in Dr. Frankenstein's tale is the narrative of the life of Frankenstein's Monster, who relates his story to Frankenstein in the Alps, prior to Walton's discovery of Frankenstein near the North Pole.Mary Shelley was a Romantic, and, like most Romantics, was rather prolix and agitated. The novel maintains a fairly constant emotional tone, leaving the reader feeling a bit drained after only a few pages. All 3 of the narrative voices seem to be constantly on the edge of some unbearable sensation. Sometimes it's joy, but for the vast majority of the work it's despondency, so it's best taken in small doses.It might be easy to take this famous story for granted, but the reader should remember what a novel blend of ideas this was for the time. It's influence has been so thorough that it can be difficult to detect it's presence, but it can be readily perceived in the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
caterpillarqueenieGo to caterpillarqueenie's profile
It was good:)
bohemimaGo to bohemima's profile
The book is different from the movie.How often have we heard and said that? In the case of Frankenstein the differences even more difficult than usual. The classic horror movie with Karloff is, oddly, more true to the essential message of the novel than one might expect—although the plot details are way off.We start with a framing device: Frankenstein has been rescued by a ship's captain from the frozen waters of the far north. He (Frankenstein) tells his awful (in all senses of the word) tale. Frankenstein's unhealthy curiosity and hubris lead him to create a "man." This well-meaning, if bizarre, experiment doesn't go well. Horror, murder, and mayhem ensue.But this isn't just a Gothic romance designed to thrill the heart of the innocent reader. Instead it's a study of what happens to a creature who is feared, hated, and rejected by everyone, including his creator. The reader soon realizes that if the Creature had been afforded even a modicum of compassion and understanding none of the evil would have ensued. This idea is well-realized in the movie from the 1930's.Frankenstein is often read as a study in hubris and pride; the doctor is seen as impious at best and Saranic at worst. None of this is supported by the text.The book retains its suspense and compulsion to keep turning the pages even on a third or fourth reading. An excellent moral tale, couched in enough melodrama to please any lover of sensational fiction. There's nothing prurient or gross to keep it from young or sensitive readers. Highly recommended.
engpunk77Go to engpunk77's profile
Quality!
At one time this was my favorite classic novel--I've read it 4 times for 4 different classes and it's amazing how many different interpretations are out there regarding the nature of the monster! One professor believed he didn't exist at all--a figment of Victor's imagination or a manifestation of his oedipus complex. The fact that the men at the end witness the existence of the monster is an example of group hysteria. That's my favorite thesis and I wish I could remember the name of my professor that suggested it to give her credit!
A chilling and complex tale that examines the relationship between man and his creator, feelings of isolation and rejection, and monstrosity. A psychological thriller as much as a horror story. Recommended to lit majors especially!
By the way, this isn't my copy but one from a library book sale. Mine is so full of notes you can barely read the text anymore...
wethewatchedGo to wethewatched's profile
They cry a lot in this book. Tears are gushed and shed. The characters weep, sometimes alone and sometimes together.
What is the source of all this misery? A lonely monster--and the miserable man who created him. The concept, which has been retold countless times in films, on TV and other media, still holds up. However, the style of writing will likely feel dated to the modern reader. Shelley can be a little over the top in conveying the misery of Frankenstein (that's the scientist, not the monster). As alluded to in my opening, there are so many sentences in this novel about crying, I began to chuckle with amusement--probably not the reaction that an author of horror seeks.
In addition, while Shelly writes gripping conflicts and arguments, the novel slows down considerably in lengthy passages where Frankenstein reflects on the loveliness of nature or dwells on the terrible situation of which the reader knows plenty already.
So is it scary? Well, I can see how it would be to readers at the time of its writing, but for those who enjoy scary movies and Stephen King stories, it might seem a bit tame.
Yes, it's a classic that will continue to be retold for many years to come. And for those interested in the history of the horror genre, it's certainly worth a read. However, if what you're really after is escapist chills and thrills, you might be better off watching The Walking Dead.
redpandabearGo to redpandabear's profile
This book draws you in from the very beginning. It was the perfect Halloween read. I can see why it's one of the greats!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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November 3rd, 4th, and 5th 2023
November 3rd, 4th, and 5th 2023 November 3rd, 4th, and 5th 2023 November 3rd, 4th, and 5th 2023
Grog Con 2022
2022 Tampa Nerd Con Pics
Game Library
Here at Tampa Nerd Con, we're in the business of building a community around a common love of gaming and pop culture. As every gamer knows, a thorough rulebook is the key to everyone having a good time, so here are our rules for a safe and fun Tampa Nerd Con. If you have a question about a certain policy or guideline, be sure to read through all of our policies, but if that still doesn't answer your question, email david@tampanerdcon.com. Game on!
Follow all show policies, venue rules, and staff directions.
No running, jumping, throwing, or other unsafe shenanigans.
Support each other in maintaining a safe environment.
Report concerns to 1-727-657-2108.
Play Nice
Don't harass other attendees, staff, or vendors.
Respect everyone's physical, social boundaries, and personal property.
No stealing, cheating, trolling, or griefing.
Remember to eat, sleep and shower.
Make a friend.
Play some games.
Explore.
Everyone should observe common-sense rules for behavior, personal interaction, courtesy, and respect. Harassing or offensive behavior will not be tolerated. Tampa Nerd Con reserves the right to revoke, without refund, the membership and badge of any participant not in compliance with this policy.
Tampa Nerd Con is committed to providing a safe environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. Harassment or unwelcome conduct, whether verbal, physical, visual, or in any other form, is strictly prohibited. Tampa Nerd Con's anti-harassment policy applies to all persons involved in the operation or attendance of the convention or Tampa Nerd Con-sponsored event. Tampa Nerd Con will not tolerate harassment of anyone by anyone, including participants, vendors, hosts, or Tampa Nerd Con staff.
Tampa Nerd Con defines harassment as any behavior that threatens a person or group or produces an unsafe and non-inclusive environment. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, offensive verbal comments or non-verbal expressions related to gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, age, or religious beliefs.
Furthermore, harassment includes, but is not limited to, sexual or discriminatory images in public and quasi-public spaces (online and offline), intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention. Harassment may take the form of comments, epithets, slurs, discriminatory or insensitive jokes, teasing, display or discussion of written or graphic material, repeatedly standing too close to or brushing up against a person, or giving gifts of an unwanted or sexual nature. Advocating or encouraging any of the above is also considered harassment.
Harassment at Tampa Nerd Con does not include respectful disagreement or critique offered in good faith. Tampa Nerd Con reserves the right to alter or broaden its definition of harassment at its sole discretion.
No one should tolerate any conduct of this type. Should you experience or witness harassment, you may choose to take any of the following actions:
If you feel safe and comfortable doing so, ask the offender to stop. Whether the offending behavior is intentional or unintentional, expressing your discomfort to the offender directly may put a stop to that conduct.
Leave the area. While this may seem unfair, it is sometimes best for your safety and well-being if you leave the area, especially if you feel uncomfortable around the offender or their conduct. After separating yourself from the conduct, you may wish to take additional actions.
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Report the incident formally to Tampa Nerd Con, on-site or online. You may go to the front entrance area where you got your badge to file an incident report in person. This can also be done anytime during or after the show by emailing david@tampanerdcon.com.
Contact the police or other appropriate authorities. Your health and safety are our most important concerns. If you require immediate assistance from law enforcement, medical services, or other governmental entities, please do not hesitate to contact such services directly.
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(German Zink, of obscure origin) Centuries before zinc was recognized as a distinct element, zinc ores were used for making brass. Tubal-Cain, seven generations from Adam, is mentioned as being an "instructor in every artificer in brass and iron." An alloy containing 87 percent zinc has been found in prehistoric ruins in Transylvania.
Metallic zinc was produced in the 13th century A.D. in India by reducing calamine with organic substances such as wool. The metal was rediscovered in Europe by Marggraf in 1746, who showed that it could be obtained by reducing calamine with charcoal.
The principal ores of zinc are sphalerite (sulfide), smithsonite (carbonate), calamine (silicate), and franklinite (zine, manganese, iron oxide). One method of zinc extraction involves roasting its ores to form the oxide and reducing the oxide with coal or carbon, with subsequent distillation of the metal.
Zinc is not considered to be toxic, but when freshly formed ZnO is inhaled a disorder known as the oxide shakes or zinc chills sometimes occurs. Where zinc oxide is encountered, recommendations include providing good ventilation to avoid concentration exceeding 5 mg/m3, (time-weighted over an 8-hour exposure, 40-hour work week).
The price of zinc was roughly $0.70/lb in January 1990.


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Total Premium $5,791 $12,680
Employee's Portion $1,543 $3,354
5% Premium Increase from 2007 to 2008
One of the challenges that small churches encounter in the program is the number of employees enrolled. "We are a small group, and pastors are notorious for making use of every benefit we have," Martin says. "We have an aging group and our demographics are not tipped toward young, healthy families. Consequently, I wish the law allowed all full-time pastors in Indiana or in a region to band together as one group. If we could all band together and be a group, then perhaps that would help drive prices down."
Good Health Pays
While buying in bulk doesn't guarantee lower rates, having a larger population base to survey may help by having more healthy people on the plan to balance out less healthy employees. Crandall says organizations that offer health insurance benefits cannot refuse to provide coverage to an individual, but they may choose to "rate it up." She says rates are driven by three things:
The male/female content of the group (because males tend to visit the doctor's office less frequently);
The ages of those to be insured (younger people will get a less expensive rate);
The location. Rates tend to be less expensive in the South and go higher as you move north.
Health insurance for small groups is mostly regulated by state laws, according to information from AHIP. Roughly two-thirds of states have adopted premium-rating rules designed in the early 1990s by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which allow rates to be adjusted for the demographics of enrollees in a group, but place limits on the magnitude of adjustments for health status, industry, and other rating factors.
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Football Star Bob Malcolm Banned For Falling Asleep On Motorway
FORMER Rangers and Scotland defender Bob Malcolm has been banned from driving after being found fast asleep and drunk in the middle lane of a motorway.
Amazingly, Derby County player Malcolm thought he had pulled over to the side of the road after being "overtaken by tiredness".
He was found slumped over the wheel of his silver Range Rover in the middle of the M1 and a recovery vehicle driver had to wake him up before calling cops.
A roadside breath test showed he was more than double the limit.
Yesterday Malcolm was fined £750, banned from driving for 20 months and ordered to pay £75 costs.
He also agreed to take a drink-drivers' rehab course which will reduce his ban by five months if he completes it successfully.
Malcolm - who was on loan to London club Queen's Park Rangers at the time - has suggested on the club's website that he was "very upset and frustrated" by the referee's performance in a game the previous day.
QPR lost 2-1 to Plymouth on Boxing Day following a winner scored in the fourth minute of injury time, allowed by ref Steve Bratt.
The player, 27, of Chellaston, Derby, admitted drink-driving when he appeared before magistrates at Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
Prosecutors said he was arrested on the northbound carriageway of the M1 at Tibshelf, near Chesterfield, at about 6.30am on December 27.
Solicitor Glyn Lewis said Malcolm had been in London during the day having played at Plymouth the day before and was travelling up to Derby.
He was persuaded to meet up with friends and downed wine - and because he had transport was asked to drop them off as there were no taxis available.
Mr Lewis said: "That was a poor decision but it was not taken by a sober individual."
The solicitor said Malcolm had dropped his friends off and was on his way home when he suddenly felt extremely tired.
Mr Lewis added: "He thought he had pulled over to the side of the road."
Bench chairman Pat Boyle told shamed Malcolm: "This was a serious offence. This could have had serious repercussions for yourself and other road users."
Malcolm, who moved to Derby from Rangers in September 2006 and has three caps for Scotland, remained tight-lipped as he left court and was driven away in his Range Rover.
But he still faces being carpeted by Derby County.
A club spokesman said after the hearing: "Derby County acknowledge today's judgment.
"There is no further comment to make at this stage as the player remains suspended pending an internal investigation.
"The club intends to deal with this in a swift manner."


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Looking at Flowers: the Trout Lily and the Black Parrot Tulip
June 1, 2015 By winpen in Uncategorized Tags: Agnes Arber, Black Parrot Tulip, Elaine Scarry, Erythronium americanum, Georgia O'Keefe, On Beauty and Being Just, The Monocotyledons, Tree of Life Project, Trout Lily	3 Comments
The forest floor in early spring awaiting the arrival of spring ephemerals with foliage of squirrel corn (Dicentra cucullaria) casting shadows.
It was such a long, long, long winter that I am still wandering around dazed by the sudden appearance of flowers all around me. The air carries intoxicating scents from flowers whose shapes and colors leave me wondering about beauty and the question of the "abominable mystery" of flowering plants.
Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum). Note reddish brown anthers.
Who is the fairest of us all? Of the many, two have occupied my thoughts. One is an old friend I found in the woods, the Trout Lily (above), and the other an exotic stranger that appeared in my own neglected side yard, the Black Parrot tulip (below), a complete surprise to me.
Black Parrot emerging from ferns.
The earliest wildflowers of the woods are often called "spring ephemerals" because they flower on the forest floor before trees have fully leafed out, when the light is dappled. Everything about the trout lily matches its dappled setting, from the splotched leaves to the yellow brown of the recurved petals and sepals, hence its many other common names like amberbell, fawn lily, adder's tongue, and dog tooth violet. The coloration camouflages the flower, whose "purpose" is to avoid death before its seeds have matured.
Trout Lily emerging from dense leaf cover. Note recurved petals, brownish on the underside.
One of the most salient characteristics of their life history is the army of small leaflets that populate their preferred habitat. Once you become aware of the little leaflets of young trout lilies, it is hard to walk delicately enough to avoid stepping on them. There are far fewer flowers.
Trout Lily leaflets nestling into every available space.
Elizabeth Murray solved the mystery for me years ago in her 1974 column "In Nature's Garden" in Virginia Wildlife. She explained the trout lily's remarkable ability to proliferate and I have always wanted to share it. She writes,
The mature seed lies dormant on the forest floor from mid-summer, when it is shed from the plant, until the following spring. Then it germinates to form a tiny miniature corm which sends up only a single leaf, and no flower. The following season the little corm produces from one to three thin threads called droppers. These sometimes appear briefly above ground and then arch over and burrow straight down into the earth. Each dropper forms a new corm at its tip with the transfer of stored food from last season's corm. The new corms can be over half a foot away from the original one and several inches deeper into the soil. Each one, again, only grows a single food-manufacturing leaf and no flowers. This process may continue for up to four years, depending on soil conditions, so that there can be as many as 45 plants from the five seeds germinating in one year from a single flower. All of these plants will consist of a single leaf and no flowers and will be spread out over quite a wide area. This of course explains the large, flowerless patches of flowers so often found.Finally, when the corm has reached a good size, it no longer sends out droppers, but instead produces a single, complete plant with the elegant little flower that we know and admire. This unusual procedure helps to ensure vigorous and healthy offspring, since a young plant at the start of its growth will have a large food reserve amassed by the parent. Another advantage one might point out a little ruefully is that the performance helps to protect the plant from predatory wild flower gatherers ! All this "burrowing" embeds the corm deeper and deeper into the soil, so that by the time it is ready to produce a flower, it may be over a foot below the surface. To dig it up without damaging the long, fragile stalk which is growing out from it is an extremely difficult operation.
If you follow her explanation carefully, you cannot help but be impressed by the remarkable ingenuity of this stolon-dropper method of getting around, a kind of vegetative hopscotching. Viable seed are only produced every 4 or 5 years, so this process ensures the multiplication of each crop of good seed.
The leaflet of the young trout lily is a work of art.
It is staggering to think of the secret life of these corms, a foot below the surface and the long voyage of the flower stalk up to the dappled light. Please visit WinterWoman's blogpost with further details and wonderful photographs of the stolons and droppers.
Trout Lily with yellow anthers (anthers are the pollen-bearing organs of the plant). It looks like this flower is shedding pollen. The flower with the reddish brown anthers may be unripe or perhaps sterile. Elizabeth Murray notes that viable seed are only produced every 4-5 years.
The black parrot tulip (Tulipa gesnerana dracontia) is an entirely different kettle of fish in terms of beauty. The group that appeared in the dusty neglected bed next to our driveway, appeared beak by beak, before opening to flaunt their dressy selves among the simple ferns and lily of the valley that eke out a pretty dry existence under the broad eaves of the house. I stopped planting tulips 30 years ago after the deer ate 40 tulip blossoms just as they were about to open. I left for work one morning admiring my long row of perfectly formed blossoms waving gently on glaucous pale green stems. When I came home, there were only stalks two inches high. So, since I do not plant tulips, these wild parrots must have been leftover bulbs from my husband's garden center planted unbeknownst to me.
The black parrot, in a vase, from above.
The black parrot is apparently so named because their buds resemble the beaks of parrots. This is true. The buds are not very pretty. Parrot tulips develop from spontaneous mutations but were not coveted because weak stems caused the frilly flowers to flop in the mud. A stiffer stemmed parrot mutation called 'Fantasy' appeared in 1910 that led to the eventual breeding of the well-stemmed Black Parrot, introduced officially in 1937 by C. Keur & Sons. It has been named the best parrot tulip of the 20th century!
Black Parrot dusted with pollen from red spruce overhead.
The black parrot tulips seduced me feather by feather. I have no view of the side of my driveway from inside the house, so I was happy to find that they make long-lasting cut flowers. I kept drifting into the room where I left the vase, ogling, considering, wondering, adjusting my view.
Their appeal is exuberant extravagance. Words used to describe the petals include ruched, waved, feathered, frothy, frilled, twisted, scalloped and curled. The color is a deep bluish burgundy, a purple black shot through with green. As the horticulturalist Maureen Gilmer writes, the black parrot tulip "dares to be different, wearing its satins and sequins, even when accomplishing the most pedestrian task" –like adorning my driveway.
The parrot-beak-like buds of the Black Parrot tulip.
The tulip produces droppers as well, as described in Agnes Arber's great book The Monocotyledons. Arber, the first female botanist elected to the Royal Society in 1946, and the first woman to receive the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society for contributions to botany, writes:
A curious feature of the life-history of the Tulip is the lowering of the bulb into the soil, year by year, during the period of immaturity. This descent is accomplished by means of a tubular organ, the "dropper" or "sinker," which carries the terminal bud inside its tip. We may illustrate the first stages from the seedling of Erythronium which behaves similarly.
This page of intense packed squiggles from Arber's Monocotyledons illustrates her patience and skill in portraying the morphological complexity of the droppers in various stages of development. Fortunately, her father, who was an artist, saw that she had drawing lessons from the age of 8.
A page from Agnes Arber's Monocotyledons showing tulip and trout lily droppers.
How much more we would understand about plant life if we worked at drawing the developmental stages of plants from a young age. Arber's drawings inform us about form and function in ways hard to decipher when dazzled by the three-dimensional reality of the living plant.
So, who is the fairest of us all? No one can claim that title, because the appeal of beauty is a mystery–one that English professor Elaine Scarry explores in her book On Beauty and Being Just. A distinguished Professor of Aesthetics and Theory of General Value at Harvard, she writes with elegant simplicity and clarity about the value of beauty. I love this sentence:
How one walks through the world, the endless small adjustments of balance, is affected by the shifting weights of beautiful things.
By beauty she does not mean perfection. The army of trout lily leaflets marching higgily piggily over the forest floor is a beautiful, but untidy, sight. One of her theses is that academia has undervalued beauty because it thinks that honoring beauty detracts from an interest in social justice. As the title of her book suggests, she does not agree.
But the claim throughout these pages that beauty and truth are allied is not a claim that the two are identical. It is not that a poem or a painting or a palm tree or a person is "true," but rather that it ignites the desire for truth by giving us, with an electric brightness shared by almost no other uninvited, freely arriving perceptual event, the experience of conviction and the experience, as well, of error.
If we are aware, every flower, every pollinator, every little one of the "endless forms most beautiful" (Darwin again) should move us to a desire for truth and justice and considering error in our judgment. She believes that "constant perceptual acuity–high dives of seeing, hearing, touching" help us "in the work of addressing injustice." Barry Lopez, honored in an earlier blog, would agree that this is the work of naturalists.
Charles Darwin called the sudden appearance of flowering plants (angiosperms) in the fossil record 100 million years ago an "abominable mystery" because it conflicted with his theory of the gradual evolution of life forms. He suggested that perhaps intermediate fossil forms might eventually be found in faraway places of the world. In fact, this has turned out to be true. Very early angiosperms have been found in China, remote at Darwin's time when paleobotany was in its infancy, but now also in Europe and the United States. And a living link between the "primitive" gymnosperms and the "advanced" angiosperms was identified in New Caledonia in the form of Amborella trichopoda, the only member of the Amborellaceae family. It is an insignificant treelet with insignificant flowers, four small, hue-less petals, whose entire genome has now been sequenced in the Tree of Life Project. Although the origin of flowering plants is no longer an abominable mystery, biologists still debate theories to account for the great success of angiosperms over gymnosperms. One is the nutrient-advantage hypothesis—that angiosperm leaves having more veins than conifer needles and scales can draw more sustaining nourishment from the Earth. Flowers persuade me, though, that beauty has a biological force.
Another one of Scarry's theses is that beauty prompts replication, for "Beauty brings copies of itself into being." In her wonderful discussion of Matisse and palm tree leaves, she writes "But beautiful things, as Matisse shows, always carry greetings from other worlds within them." A bulb seller posted Georgia O'Keefe's comment on their website: "When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else." That is why naturalists write.
The naturalist occasionally has mundane errands, like choosing a new lighting fixture for the kitchen– all the while thinking about Elaine Scarry's ideas about beauty replicating itself–and there was a painting of a black parrot tulip for sale on the wall of the store among the lights, proving Scarry's point!
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The rural life: Vinegar Hollow in June »
selesser says:
Once again I have loved reading your work. And I love trout lilies, although I have seldom seen them. You know, the entire work of this blog is very special–educational and intimate at the same time. Thank you again.
winpen says:
And I thank you for reading! I think I am getting more long-winded as I go on, which is more demanding of readers, so I thank you for spending the time. E
Sarah Oliver says:
I went for a walk in the woods today, and found a large number of mysterious white "roots" that looped up out of the soil and back down again. Because I'm familiar with these woods and knew that there are massive colonies of trout lilies here, I suspected that there was a connection, but it still took me quite a bit of Googling with different key words before discovering that these were in fact stolons! Even after knowing the correct word, I could only find a single image on the entire internet of a trout lily stolon. I'm so grateful to have found your posting, and grateful that you took the time to type up a 1974 column! I was motivated to post a photo of the stolons on my very neglected blog, which I think will be linked to my name when I post this comment.


Read reviews about Muse - Manchester here! All reviews have been written by Quandoo users that have already booked and eaten at Muse - Manchester. We try to be as transparent as possible by providing you with real guest experiences. Find out what other diners are saying about Muse - Manchester.
Muse provided great service and good food. The setting is conveniently placed in the centre of town and staff were efficient and friendly. A good night out.
lovely surroundings, smiley and attentive service, waitress knowledgable about the food. Quality and variety of food on menu was just excellent. Really enjoyed, highly recomment.
Small, simple selection of very tasty food! The chips were amazing! Lovely staff. Looking forward to coming back when it's extended & trying the new menu!
We had a lovely visit the cocktail were yummy and the food was ok not as hot as I would prefer. Staff were lovely and helpful.


Dean Lewis sat down to answer your questions this weekend in the Ask Anything Chat on #MostRequestedLive. Hear what he had to say about his breakout song, 'Be Alright' & lots more!
Watch Dean Lewis' Ask Anything Chat below!
Watch the video for Dean Lewis' breakout out hit "Be Alright" below.