Title: Bride of Frankenstein: A Modern Love Story

Author: Richard T. Chizmar

Date of First Publication: 1993

Place of Publication: Frankenstein! The Monster Wakes

Type: Short Story

Characters: No Character

Themes: MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; ANDROID

Critical Summary: “Bride of Frankenstein: A Modern Love Story” recounts the tale of a man, whom the reader later discovers to be Francis Einstein, who is trying to bring his mother back from the dead. Through journal entries written by Einstein, we learn that he has the corpses of three women in his basement and he believes that he will be able to bring his mother back to life with them. The journal entries cease, and it is through a case report that the reader learns Einstein has been arrested and placed in the psychiatric department of a hospital because he believed himself to be Victor Frankenstein.

The connection with Frankenstein is extremely explicit. Without the story of Frankenstein, there is no way that Einstein could have gotten the idea to bring his mother back from the dead, for he went about the reanimation process in the same way that Victor Frankenstein did, by getting body parts from those who were not necessarily using them any longer. Thus, our theme of the Mad Scientist is applicable to this short story. We have a man who believes he can reanimate his dead mother, who decides to go against nature and bring back that which is already dead. But whereas Victor Frankenstein was successful in creating life, Francis Einstein was a failure in his endeavors. However, even though Einstein failed where Frankenstein succeed, they both end up suffering the consequences of their actions, Frankenstein by perishing and Einstein by living his life in a mental institution.

Administrative Notes:  Sydney Laning, CSUF; Beck Serna (editing)