Title: The Frankenstein Wheel
Author: Paul W. Fairman
Date of First Publication: 1972
Place of Publication: International Book Associates
Type: Novel
Characters: Felix De Lacey; The Creature.
Themes: BYRONIC HERO; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER
Critical Summary: The story begins when Henry Rodger visits his friend Leland Welch. During this visit, Leland mentioned an incident that happened to Max Gregor: Gregor was in love and engaged to Lenia, but once he returned to his home, Orkney Island, Lenia was found dead. While grieving for her, he saw her on the beach. The Creature then came out of the sea and took Lenia with him. Gregor’s village deemed him crazy for believing Lenia was in fact alive. Rodger receives a letter from Felix De Lacey informing him that Gregor was found mutilated and dead on the beach. De Lacey explains how when he was a young man, he encountered the Creature and how De Lacey’s blind father was moved by the Creatures plea for acceptance. De Lacey wants to kill the Creature. Rodger and De Lacey open Lenia’s grave to find her gone.
Rodger and De Lacey then find the Creature’s island. They find his hut and personal journal. They discover that as Frankenstein did not give him a companion, the Creature took his notes on how to reanimate life, dug up the grave of Lenia, and reanimated her. As they follow the Creature’s trail, they hear how the reanimated Lenia had been seen trying to escape the Creature, but could not. However, when they do catch up to the Creature in an abandoned castle, Lenia kills De Lacey. It turns out she was the murderer all along, not the Creature. The Creature comes and strangles her to death. Remorseful about how alone he is in the world, he ends his life in the same way he was bestowed it, with lightning and fire.
The Frankenstein Wheel is a continuation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. After Victor Frankenstein dies and the Creature exiles himself, the Creature comes back, determined to create his own companion. Instead, he makes a murderess. The Creature, always a Byronic Hero, takes on the role of Mad Scientist to make his own mate. He remains sympathetic.
Administrative Notes: Sariah Amin, CSUF; GC Philipp (editing)