Ghost Stories on a Beautiful October Sunday in CinCity

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Letter I

To Mrs. Saville, England

"...I am already far north of London; and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves, and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my day dreams become more fervent and vivid.



I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is for ever visible, its broad disc just skirting the horizon, and diffusing a perpetual splendour. There--for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators--there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtably are in those undiscovered solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?"

Indeed. What may not be expected? To be continued...

please note: excerpt from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, page 1.
photo by Alexey Titarenko

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 4, 2009 at 4:25 PM

    Thank you....smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RudeeOctober 4, 2009 at 5:16 PM

    That photo is perfect with that excerpt!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 4, 2009 at 6:59 PM

    I've seen the movie ten thousand times, but never read the book. HoneyHaired's reading it for school. Had no idea what storyline she was talking about with all the North Pole saga...and where's Igor?? Think Mel Brooks did Mary Shelley a big, big favor.

    ReplyDelete
  4. OwenOctober 4, 2009 at 6:59 PM

    The quote from Shelley is extraordinary, but is especially the photo from Titarenko which is a pleasure to discover here... I wasn't familiar with him, so just went to look at his website; it is full of fabulous photos... what a visionary... Thanks so much for the little shove in that direction...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Viewtiful_JustinOctober 5, 2009 at 10:52 AM

    That's one of my favorite books. Truly surprising...

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownOctober 6, 2009 at 7:39 AM

    I'm with you all here--I love that photo. It's coincidental that HoneyHaired and I stayed up WAY TOO LATE the night before watching Dr. Zhivago so the photograph seemed eerily familiar.

    ReplyDelete

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Hey, thanks for your thoughts and your time:>)

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