Creature Comforts

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is 200 years old in 2018, yet it feels more topical than ever. Read (or re-read) the story you thought you knew

In a 21st-century age where immortality has now become the mantra of every Silicon Valley tech zillionaire as they seek to "cure" death - Google founder Bill Maris said he wants "to live long enough not to die" and famed angel investor Peter Thiel has promoted the notion of transhumanism - the ability to evolve beyond the body's limitations, aided and abetted by technological additions, is the gain line for Gen-Z humanity and beyond.

Frankenstein, the story of one man's obsession with the creation of life and his subsequent abandonment of his creation, remains a salient study of creativity and destruction. But it's also a cautionary tale and a reminder of the passage of time, even though today's world, now 200 years since the book's initial publication, has rendered much of author Mary Shelley's science fiction almost realizable.