Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Carrère, Emmanuel - R. R. K. (review date November-December 1990)

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R. R. K. (review date November-December 1990)

SOURCE: A review of Gothic Romance, in West Coast Review of Books, Vol. 15, No. 6, November-December, 1990, p. 38.

[In the following mixed review of Gothic Romance, the Critic concludes that "Frankenstein buffs will thoroughly enjoy this read," while others "will miss the stylish innuendoes and likely find it unrewarding."]

Students of English literature know the circumstances under which Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, evolved. Gothic Romance is a tongue-in-cheek tall tale about this story and how it triggered other "horrors" including the "romance" novel.

Frankenstein was supposedly born of ghost story telling during evening socials attended by the Shelleys and Lord Byron. In Gothic Romance, a lesser-known attendee and drug derelict, Doctor Polidori, claims the idea was stolen from him and pursues revenge by writing his own version....

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Philip H. Solomon (review date May 1987)
   2. John Gross (review date 1 April 1988)
   3. Oliver Conant (review date 17 April 1988)
   4. John Updike (review date 4 July 1988)
   5. Irving Malin (review date Spring 1989)
   6. Publishers Weekly (review date 25 May 1990)
   7. Richard Eder (review date 22 July 1990)
   8. Scott Winnett (review date November 1990)
   9. R. R. K. (review date November-December 1990)
   10. Faren Miller (review date December 1990)
4. Copyright