Title: The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein
Author: Theodore Roszak
Date of First Publication: 1995
Place of Publication: New York, NY: Random House
Bibliographic Reference: isfdb
Type: Novel
Character: Victor Frankenstein; The Creature; Alphonse Frankenstein; Elizabeth Frankenstein; Justine Moritz
Keywords: BYRONIC HERO; FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS
Critical Summary: Theodore Roszak’s The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein is a work that aims to simulate the appearance of a historical document from the Romantic era. In order to achieve this, Roszak writes portions of his novel in an 18th century epistolary format. Genuine historical figures and events–both obscure and famous–are referred to as contemporaries. Mirroring Shelley, Roszak’s frame narrator is Robert Walton, Shelley’s sea captain who records Victor Frankenstein’s story. Roszak’s Walton declares that he is continuing the role of archivist. He informs ‘his’ readers that the book they hold is the result of his scholarship into Elizabeth Frankenstein’s life. This notion of new historicist investigation serves as the novel’s central conceit. Given that Memoirs contains many of Frankenstein’s superficial elements, it can be classified as pastiche. Like Frankenstein, Memoirs is a work with feminist implications, albeit heavier ones. In a forward, Roszak states that he hopes to give Elizabeth “the voice she was not free to adopt.”
Indeed, Memoirs is an exploration of Frankenstein’s oft-overlooked elements. Elizabeth Frankenstein, a supporting character in Shelley’s text, becomes the main character in Roszak’s. The sexual dynamic between Victor and Elizabeth, a subtext in Frankenstein, becomes a central plot element in Memoirs. The supernatural, obfuscated by science’s presence in the original, becomes the protagonist’s focus in the pastiche.
After Walton’s brief introductory note, Memoirs begins with Elizabeth’s childhood among a gypsy family. Her adoptive mother Rosina is a superstitious midwife who impresses into her a respect for the supernatural. While traveling through town, the aristocratic Caroline Frankenstein encounters Elizabeth. Enamored by her noble appearance, Caroline buys her. Elizabeth’s childhood in an aristocratic Genevan estate is idyllic. At the behest of her adoptive father Alphonse, a skeptic devoted to scientism, Elizabeth undergoes a Godwinian education in math and science. Behind her father’s back, her adoptive mother begins to educate her and Victor in the ways of an unnamed pagan cult. It is revealed that the cult is matriarchal, sapphic, and exclusively female. Postcolonial threads within Shelley’s text are augmented; the leader of Roszak’s fictional sect is an old woman from South India. The pagan cult’s goal is the creation of a “chymical marriage,” a ritual in which sex is used to harness magical forces. Elizabeth and Victor are both groomed by Carolina and Seraphina to partake in this act. The two eventually attempt it in secret. In the process, Victor rapes Elizabeth before departing for Ingolstadt in shame.
Female trauma gains special attention. During Victor’s absence, Elizabeth attempts to process both her rape and the deaths of Carolina and Seraphina. Journaling becomes her outlet during this quiet stretch of time at her family’s Geneva manor. During this post-traumatic period she encounters the Creature, who conceals his monstrosity while informing her that he is looking for Victor. The two strike up an acquaintanceship, despite the fact that the monster reveals very little about himself or why he seeks Victor.
Victor eventually returns home. He reconciles with Elizabeth, and the two plan to marry. The engagement is joyless, as it happens mainly to satisfy Alphonse. In the days leading up to it, both Victor and Elizabeth are plagued by anxiety. The former fears the arrival of his Creature, while the latter is struck by a sense of impending doom. While Victor leaves the marriage bed to search for his creature, Elizabeth suffers a psychological break and jots down ominously incoherent words. The writing is abruptly put to an end by a death that is not described.
Administrative Notes: Samuel Ortiz, CSUF. Edited by Adriana Lora, CSUF