The Reception of Frankenstein in Spain by the Hand of its Illustrators

REVIEW: SPANISH JOURNAL OF ENGLISH


INTRODUCTION
Although Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has been analysed from a wide variety of perspectives, a study on how the illustrators have approached the novel has long been missing.Within a global perspective, a couple of attempts have been made in this direction: G. F. Scott's "Victor's Secret: Queer Gothic in Lynd Ward's Illustrations to Frankenstein (1934)," where he discusses Ward's wood engravings and how his illustrations emphasize Victor's homoeroticism, and Christopher Murray's "Frankenstein in Comics and Graphic Novels," where the author examines adapted versions of the novel.Only recently, attention has been paid to those illustrators who, without adapting the novel into any other medium, have visually read Frankenstein (B.González-Moreno and F. González-Moreno, "Beyond the Filthy Form").This research on the illustrated history of Frankenstein proves to be very enriching, since it contributes to the assessment of how illustrators helped to vindicate the novel and opened new ways to read it.
In the Spanish context, the illustrated reception of Frankenstein is still in its early stages and only our previous study, "Representations of the Female in the Spanish Illustrated Editions of Frankenstein," deals with this aspect, focusing on how the female aspects of the novel have been addressed by the Spanish illustrators, among which female artists have achieved a great relevance. 1This article aims to offer a broader perspective on how Mary Shelley's novel has been visually read by Spanish illustrators, from the moment the novel was first translated in Spain in 1944 up to the significant 200th anniversary of its original 1818 publication.It will allow us to gain a further insight into how the Spanish illustrators offer an original and deep reading of the novel and to what extent they distance their work from topical movie-based renditions.

SETTING THE SCENE
Frankenstein as a myth arrived in Spain before Frankenstein itself did.It took a while for Mary Shelley's novel to be published in Spain-the event occurred only in 1944; however, myths travelling faster, Frankenstein as a political allegory found its way to the country one century earlier.On 26 March 1844, El Corresponsal, a monarchicalconstitutional and conservative Spanish journal, published in Madrid what is possibly the first written reference to Frankenstein in Spain.The entry chronicled a banquet organized in Covent Garden Theatre in Daniel O'Connell's honour and it quoted part of the speech delivered by the Irish emancipator: Una dama Inglesa, de gran fama en las letras, ha hecho el retrato de un ser imaginario, de un volúmen extraordinario y del carácter más feroz, y lo bautizó con el nombre de Frankenstein.Y bien.La conspiración que acaba de ser juzgada en Irlanda es el Frankenstein de la ley.(Alegría general.)Así como el héroe del romance es un ser disforme y monstruoso, así el sueño de mis jueces no tiene de real más que la monstruosidad. 2 ("Banquete") López and El árbol de la ciencia."See Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo, vol.28, 2022, pp.533-47.  2 The Spanish article reproduced the original speech, which had appeared in The Illustrated London News (16 Mar. 1844, p. 162): "One of our female authors of celebrity, in the fulness of her feminine imagination, has depicted to the world an imaginary being of extraordinary dimensions and of ferocious capacity, and had denominated that being 'Frankenstein.'That conspiracy which had been tried in Ireland was the Frankenstein of the law.(Great laughter).As the one was uncouth of limb, unshaped in form, undefined and indefinite in nature, having nothing of humanity about it-so the other had nothing of law but its monstrosity" (162).
An imaginary being of extraordinary dimensions and voracious capacity, deformed and monstrous, O'Connell's literary and political metaphor may have gone unnoticed by the Spanish audience since Frankenstein had not been either translated or published in Spain at this time.However, the quote becomes relevant because, by confusing the unnamed creature with its creator, the Irish politician was making a mistake which has endured until nowadays and which evinces how the novel itself was not properly known.
Several years later, in 1917, almost one century after the publication of the first edition of Mary Shelley's novel, another article mentioned the progress achieved in surgery by Dr. Born, from Breslau, in 1894: "Este moderno Frankenstein realizó algunos interesantes experimentos.Obtuvo, por ejemplo, una rana normal con dos mitades de rana.Desarrolló la cabeza de una rana en la cola de otra, e inversamente" [This modern Frankenstein carried out several interesting experiments.He got, for example, a normal frog out of two other half frogs.He developed the head of a frog in the tail of another, and the other way round]3 ("Maravillas de la Cirugía" 23).The consideration of this Polish doctor as a "modern Frankenstein" makes evident that the article's author was already familiar with the novel and its characters.The Spanish reading public was probably familiar with Mary Shelley's work thanks to Luis Costarias' translation into Spanish, published by La Nación in Buenos Aires in 1912.This is the first translation of Frankenstein into Spanish but not the first in Spain, where the novel remained a stranger to the Spanish editors, who seemed reluctant to publish it.
The release of James Whale's film Frankenstein in 1931 prompted a renewed interest in the novel and, for the first time, illustrated and deluxe editions began to be published abroad.In this regard, Nino Carbé's illustrations for the Illustrated Editions Company of New York (1932) would be a perfect example.A similar reaction could have been expected in Spain, as this is the norm on such occasions; however, this did not happen.The film with Boris Karloff impersonating the creature was widely advertised along 1931 and finally released in 1932, becoming an unprecedented success just as in other countries.Nonetheless, while the film did not help to recover Mary Shelley's text in Spain, it did help to provide the Spanish public with the first image of the monster.As noted above, the film was extensively advertised; interestingly, the newspaper advertisement did not reproduce the definitive promotional poster with Karloff's image, but rather the one designed for Universal's 1931-32 promotional campaign that advanced the shooting of Frankenstein as initially planned, directed by Robert Florey and starring Bela Lugosi; a project that never saw the light.The advertisement (fig. 1) evinced that people were neither familiar with Mary Shelley's text nor with the film itself.The creature appears as a gigantic monster, spreading panic among the population, trampling on them, with a man grasped in his hand and projecting X-rays from his eyes.The image, which, as explained above, did not refer to Whale's version, distances itself considerably from any other ever seen and reminds of the menacing tripods appearing in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1897).The Spanish public could already be somewhat familiar with this vision.Unlike Mary Shelley's novel, The War of the Worlds was translated in Spain soon after its English publication.It appeared in El Imparcial in 1902, translated by Ramiro de Maeztu. 4From then on, references to the Martians and to their deadly weapon, the heat ray, were present in the press at the time ("Curiosidades astronómicas: El planeta Marte"; "La espuma de la ciencia: El rayo mortífero").Either way, in Spain the film only helped to reinforce the idea that Whale's Frankenstein was the Frankenstein and that there was no text behind it.That said, once Whale's film was released, and just like it happened in the rest of the world, the iconic image of Karloff had come to stay. 5

A CREATURE WAITING TO BE UNLEASHED
It is somehow curious that the first Spanish edition of Frankenstein appeared during Francisco Franco 's Dictatorship (1939's Dictatorship ( -1975)).It was published in 1944 by La Pléyade in Barcelona and translated by Simón Santainés.This edition is not only significant because of its primogeniture but also because it was illustrated.Joan ("Juan") Palet Batiste  was the artist in charge of inaugurating a path in Spain that, although late in its beginning, has been especially fruitful.Palet designed a frontispiece depicting Elizabeth about to be murdered (fig.2).
The choice obviously fitted the time; it was eight years since the Spanish Civil War had finished and Franco's regime, which was fully installed, included a system of censorship.The Spanish editorial industry was trying to recover and, as a consequence, it started to produce commercial works of good taste.Bearing in mind the fact that the market was mainly made up of a traditional and conservative bourgeoisie, Palet could not choose a scene that could be considered as grotesque or even sacrilegious.Thus, the frontispiece focuses on the romantic image of a woman placidly sleeping or having fainted rather than on the monster, who is subtly included lurking in the shadows.In compliance with the regime ideals, Frankenstein became the epitome of how transgression is 5 From the moment Whale's film started to be advertised in Spain, parodies and jokes began to proliferate.One of the first was the following promotional comment: "Se dice por ahí que Frankenstein es una película tan terrorífica, que pone los pelos de punta ¿A los calvos también?" [It is said out there that Frankenstein is such a terrifying film that it makes the hairs stand up.Bold men's as well?] ("Comentarios cinemáticos").In 1934 Spanish director Eduardo García Maroto released Una de miedo [A Horror Film]  The conservative ideology during Franco's regime was not the most conducive environment for new editions of Mary Shelley's novel, whose main character was usurping God's role.Nonetheless, both Mary Shelley and her creature managed to survive.In 1949, Aguilar published El doctor Frankenstein o el moderno Prometeo as part of its acclaimed collection Crisol.It included a brief introduction by the translator, Antonio Gobernado, who showed that in Spain the novel was read under a main assumption: the religious one.Regarding this premise, Gobernado states that "la discusión es completamente superflua: solo Dios puede dar vida a la materia.No hay más que decir" [The discussion is completely superfluous: only God can give life to matter.There is no more to say] ("Estudio preliminar" 11).He goes on to add that in Whale's film the monster is evil because "su auxiliar, al robar el cerebro, . . .se llevó el del hombre malo" [his assistant, when he stole the human brain, . . .took the one belonging to the evil man] (12-13), and, as a result, it has to be destroyed; in the novel, however, this syllogism is not as clear: [L]o que no puede comprender una mentalidad de hoy es por qué la autora se empeña en decirnos que el monstruo es un ser depravado, cuando ella no pierde ocasión de describírnoslo como un ser todo lo contrario a lo largo de varios capítulos… es feo, es horriblemente feo, los hombres le temen y le huyen, haciéndole tan desgraciado que termina cometiendo crímenes.(12)(13) To our nowadays mentality it cannot be understood why the author puts all her efforts to say that the monster is a depraved being, when she loses no occasion to describe him as totally the opposite all throughout several chapters… he is ugly, terribly ugly, men are scared and fly away, making him so disgraceful that he ends up committing crimes.
Obviously, the translator is far from understanding the aesthetic dimension of the novel and all the social criticism behind it.Nevertheless, the edition proved to be a success and it was re-edited in 1959 (3rd ed.) and 1964 (4th ed.), keeping the text alive all throughout Francoism.
During the 1970s, Frankenstein seemed doomed to cheap, nonillustrated paperbacks.In 1972, Bruguera began to publish the novel in this format and, being aware of the popularity of the film, used Boris Karloff's image on the front cover.These kinds of editions helped to present the text not as the complex literary piece of art that it was, but as the reductionist narration of terror that the film encompassed.Moreover, the editors did not promote the creation of original illustrations; the image of the Karloffian green monster, although highly distorted, seemed to be good enough.However, during this decade, several novelties and changes fundamental for the development of the novel in Spain took place.First, was the release in 1973 of El espíritu de la colmena [The Spirit of the Beehive], directed by Víctor Erice and considered one of the most poetic movies in the history of Spanish cinema.In the film, the projection of Whale's El doctor Frankenstein serves as a trigger to explore the relationship of the different main characters, especially the girls, with life and death. 6Now, for the first time, the Spanish public began to perceive the real depth of Mary Shelley's novel as a mirror of the terrors hidden in the human soul.The other major event was Franco's death in 1975, which suggested the beginning of a new cultural period under the premise of freedom during the Transition and Democracy.

THE MADRILENIAN GROOVE: THE MIRROR OF A YOUNG DEMOCRACY
During this period, Frankenstein was quickly assimilated into Spanish popular culture.The younger generations adopted the novel, and the creature became a symbol of those who had remained apart or prosecuted by the previous leading culture and society; the monster stood for the outcast, the other who was now able to raise his voice.This new generation was ready to face its past just as the creature had confronted its maker.In this sense, the influence of the TV show La bola de cristal [The Crystal Ball], broadcast between 1984 and 1988, must be highlighted.This show, intended for children and a young audience, was hosted by famous members of the countercultural movement of the "movida madrileña" [Madrilenian Groove], such as Alaska, who appeared dressed up as a witch, or Kiko Veneno, disguised as Frankenstein's creature. 7Moreover, the TV show included the series The Munsters (translated as La familia Monster), which helped to popularize Mary Shelley's character and also helped to make the Spanish audience sympathize with the creature.
Throughout the first decade of the Democracy, and as a result of the context explained above, Mary Shelley's novel triumphed as a text for the youth and Spanish illustrators were ready to contribute to its popularity.In order to reach this specific audience, Ediciones Maisal published a graphic novel in 1977, one year before the approval of the current Spanish Constitution.The text was adapted by A. Alonso and Arturo Arnau Santobeña was responsible for the illustrations.Ediciones Maisal specialized in science-fiction, horror, and the detective genres, translating and publishing in some cases American comics.based on Edgar Allan Poe's tales, can be found.This kind of illustrated text was widely demanded, being re-edited in other publications.In the case of Frankenstein, Ediciones Maisal included it again in Super TV, no. 1 (1979), a heterogeneous anthology where we can also find a biography of Marilyn Monroe and a version of the legend of The Nibelungs, among other illustrated texts.This was not the only graphic adaptation known in Spain during this period.In 1982, Ediprint published another comic based on Frankenstein, although this was not an original Spanish contribution since it was the Spanish edition of a graphic novel published by Pendulum Press in 1973 in Connecticut.This version was adapted by Otto Binder, who tried to be faithful to the novel, although the influence of Boris Karloff's monster can be observed in Nardo Cruz's illustrations.Regarding the Spanish edition, it included an original biography of Mary W. Shelley together with her portrait by César Álvarez Puras.This text, unsigned, is especially significant since it does not stint its praises on Shelley and spares no efforts in vindicating the originality of the film to her proper owner: Comúnmente se cree que Frankenstein es obra de creación reciente, fruto de una época técnicamente mecanizada como la nuestra . . . .La verdad es otra.Es una obra escrita y publicada (1818) en plena efervescencia del movimiento romántico inglés . . . .La sustancia de Frankenstein, su obra más divulgada y famosa, trata del principio de la vida, especialmente de la presuntuosa habilidad de la sabiduría humana para manejar estos principios vitales . . . .El cine encontró en este texto, escrito hace más de un siglo y medio por una mujer feminista, un filón inacabable. ) It is commonly believed that Frankenstein is a recent creation, the result of a highly mechanized society like ours . . . .The truth is other.It is a work written and published (1818) when the English Romantic period was in its peak . . . .Frankenstein, its most widespread and famous novel, is about the principle of life, especially the preposterous ability of human wisdom to deal with those vital principles . . . .The cinema found in this text, written more than a century and a half ago by a feminist woman, an unending gold mine.Boris Karloff's shadow was hard to eclipse and, even when the editors opted for the inclusion of original illustrations, the cover of the book kept bearing the iconic image of the green monster with bolts.This is the case with the edition published by Bruguera in 1980 as part of its collection Club Joven.Fernando Aznar drew twenty-five illustrations for this edition, the first extensively illustrated and non-adapted edition of Frankenstein by a Spanish artist.In the dust jacket remains an image of the Karloffian creature combined with one of Aznar's drawings; however, beyond this remnant of the movie, all the illustrations are completely original and faithful to the text, such as the instant when Victor swears revenge surrounded by the tombs of his relatives; on the other hand, scenes that were already commonplace such as the creation of the creature are not depicted (fig.3).We can also perceive a tribute in relation to Bernie Wrightson, whose acclaimed illustrations were published by Marvel in 1983: the comparison can be established if we pay attention to the way both artists portray the instant when Victor, ascending Montanvert, encounters the monster (fig.4).With this dramatic effect, the creator appears small and fragile when in front of an imposing and menacing creature wrapped in a waving black cloak. 10ne of the main goals of these editions for their young audiences was to promote a renewed vision of Frankenstein far removed from the topics instilled by the films.The poet, editor, and translator Ana María Moix was very conscious of this problem when she adapted the novel for Editorial Lumen (1987).She states in her prologue: El desconocimiento o, mejor dicho, el conocimiento erróneo que la mayor parte del público posee respecto a la historia de Frankenstein, tiene una razón evidente: casi todo el mundo ha visto alguna versión de esta historia en la pantalla, pero son muy pocos quienes han leído la excepcional novela de Mary W. Shelley en la que se ha basado el cine . . . .El móvil de Mary Shelley, al escribir Frankenstein, no fue horrorizar al lector sino sobrecoger su alma.Y, sobre todo, su pensamiento.Porque este relato magistral está destinado, más que a suscitar emociones y sentimientosque, por supuesto, suscita-, a profundizar en ellos, y, más que a provocar el temblor de nuestras facultades más fácilmente sensibles al pavor, a producir el temblor del alma humana cuando ésta se relaciona con los grandes misterios de la existencia: la vida y la muerte.The lack of knowledge, or rather, the wrong knowledge most people have about the story of Frankenstein is due to one evident reason: almost everyone has watched any version of the story in the screen but only a few have read the exceptional novel by Mary W. Shelley, on which the films are based . . . .The aim of Mary Shelley when she wrote Frankenstein was not to terrify the reader but to overwhelm his soul.And, above all, his thought.Because this outstanding tale is meant to deepen into our passions and not to arouse our feelings and emotions, which it certainly does; and to make tremble not those faculties likely to be scared but to make the human soul tremble when confronted with the great mysteries of existence: life and death.
In consonance with these words, Ricard Castells i Cots  designed a set of ten illustrations where all the details that might result in a more macabre or terrifying reaction-those that could arouse horror, but not reflection-had been discarded.On the contrary, Ricard leads us through a journey of serenity, melancholy, retrospection, sadness, and loneliness.Among these ten images, resolved with an extraordinarily delicate and elegant style, we must highlight the depiction of Victor and Elizabeth as children; there is an evident contrast between the lighted image of Elizabeth, a symbol of Beauty, and the dark figure of Victor, a melancholic and sublime character.The different representations of the creature must be pinpointed, too.In the first one, just after its birth, it approaches us extending its hand and asking for help; we occupy Victor's position and we feel the necessity of questioning ourselves as to how we would act.Later, we discover again the creature looking for answers while it contemplates itself in a brook, while it reads Victor's diary, or while it confronts Elizabeth during her wedding night.Finally, the edition ends with a close-up of the creature shedding a tear (fig.5).Ricard's monster is, without any doubt, the very image of forlornness and misery.By the end of the 1980s and for the rest of the twentieth century, in Spain, the illustrated editions of Frankenstein had become a product mainly identified with a young audience.We might have expected a change in this situation after the release in 1988 of Remando al viento [Rowing with the Wind], directed by Gonzalo Suárez, and of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, by Kenneth Branagh (1994;1995 in Spain).These two movies tried to end the long tradition of reductionist adaptations which had turned Mary Shelley's novel into a poor story of terror.Gonzalo Suárez focused on the biographical elements that had shaped the novel, especially those events that had taken place at Villa Diodati; here, the creature is presented as an incarnation of Mary Shelley's inner monsters and torments.Regarding Kenneth Branagh's adaptation, despite several cinematographic licenses, it can be considered as the most faithful version up to the present.Both films sought to restore the novel to its rightful and merited place.Unluckily, the Spanish editors did not seize that opportunity by trying to reach the public that was now rediscovering Shelley's novel.On the contrary, they kept their focus on young readers as demonstrated by the fact that the comic based on Kenneth Branagh's film was quickly translated and published in Spain in 1995.The illustrated editions intended for more exclusive readers or as collector's pieces would have to wait.

FRANKENSTEIN COMES OF AGE
These comings and goings regarding Frankenstein and the fact that by the end of the twentieth century Mary Shelley's work had not found its rightful place in Spain can also be appreciated in academic circles.In fact, illustrators, be they for young readers or not, had managed to accommodate the text in popular culture, whereas the literary quality of the text was still being debated in Spain.It is significant that the first fully edited and annotated edition of Frankenstein was not published until 1996 by Cátedra-Letras Universales, a publishing house famous for providing Spanish readers with a set of canonic books.Isabel Burdiel, the editor of the novel, compiled all the studies and criticism surrounding  (Levine and Knoepflmacher xiii).Nonetheless, as it seems, the creature found refuge again and again among those editions meant for children or young readers; and, accordingly, illustrators were going to be influenced by their "reading" public.
Thus, the complete list of illustrated editions that have perpetuated the reception of Frankenstein in Spain as a text for younger audiences is long and we cannot discuss them in their entirety, although several titles must be highlighted.In 1993, Juan Ramón Alonso Díaz de Toledo (Madrid, b. 1951) illustrated the edition published by Gaviota.His scenes, drawn in sepia-ochre tones, seem to take place under the evening light, at dusk, when the day dies; hence, they convey a feeling of melancholy and exhaustion.Alonso reuses the iconic image of the neartouching hands of God and Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti, reinforcing a reading of Victor as a usurper of God's divine power.These illustrations, drawn with detail and care, try to be faithful to the novel and quite literal, just as we can also see in Fuencisla del Amo and Francisco Solé's artwork for the edition published by Vicens Vives in 2006.Fuencisla del Amo de la Iglesia (Madrid, b. 1950)-the first female name that we encounter in the history of illustrated editions of Frankenstein in Spain-and Francisco Solé Romeo (Madrid, b. 1952) offer us a complete overview of the narrative complexity of the novel: Walton's narration, Victor's story, the creature's point of view, the cottagers, Safie and her father, etc.Their illustrations, elaborated with watercolour and coloured pencils, are extremely detailed and present a remarkable and symbolic use of colour.In this sense, we can observe a predominantly blue and melancholic palette of cool tones in scenes like the first encounter between the creature and Victor after its creation, or the moment when the creature remains alone and forlorn, hidden in the woods (fig.6); on the contrary, in scenes where the creature is burning down the cottage, the colour red dominates, symbolizing rage and unchained passions.In fact, the opposition between reason and passion is one of the elements emphasized by the editors on the back cover: Shelley no solo cuestiona la desatinada ambición que lleva a su protagonista a usurpar el poder divino y a privilegiar la ciencia sobre los sentimientos, sino que nos transmite una enseñanza tan Antigua como el Génesis: la sabiduría trae consigo la pérdida de la inocencia y conlleva el sufrimiento.
Shelley is not only questioning the misguided ambition which makes her protagonist usurp the divine power and privilege science over his feelings, but also conveying a lesson as old as Genesis: wisdom brings the loss of innocence and involves suffering.
Realism and literalism are common elements in all these editions; see, for example, the illustrations depicted by Juan Manuel Moreno (Buenos Aires, b. 1972) for Teide's 2007 edition, which are not very distinct from those by Fuencisla del Amo and Francisco Solé; or the scenes by Luis Miguez Ybarz for Anaya's 2010 publication.Nevertheless, we can also see different attempts to reinforce the expressivity of the scenes and to show an artistic personality.Enrique Flores (Badajoz, b. 1967) resolved his illustrations for Anaya's 2000 edition in a very personal and original way, imitating the shadows and the black and white contrasts produced by woodcut; unfortunately, the editors preferred the hackneyed image of Boris Karloff for the front cover.Carles de Miguel ("Carlos de Miguel Bonilla") was confronted with Mary Shelley's novel on two separate occasions: the first one, in 2008, for Editorial Juventud and the second, in 2012, for Almadraba Editorial.De Miguel recognizes the insufficiently exploited potential of the novel, which has nothing to do with the film: "It is the second time that variable.What continues to grace me is that the version of the Hammer and the character of Boris Karloff have nothing to do with the original book."The illustrator succeeds in offering us two clearly distinguishable visual readings; however, in both cases there is a predominant element: the fury and rage of the monster, as seen, for example, in how William is murdered.
Frankenstein's Spanish editions for young readers were a progeny that had really gone forth and prospered.However, Spain was still lacking a mature visual reading, a publication that would become a true milestone and that would dignify the novel.This reading finally arrived in 2006 thanks to the painter and engraver Santiago Ydáñez (Jaén, b. 1967) and Ahora Ediciones de Bibliofilia.When the editor, Ángel Pina Ruiz, contacted Ydáñez to illustrate Mary Shelley's novel, Ydáñez was a promising, highly talented, and award-winning artist who had never before illustrated a book; currently, he is an established and acclaimed painter.The result of this collaboration is an incomparable work of art: a limited edition with a set of twenty-seven serigraphs, signed by the author and numbered by the editor, which constitutes a complete tribute to the novel and its author.Ydáñez focuses on the faces and expressions of the characters, a common characteristic of his later career.He mainly presents a series of close-up portraits that overwhelm us with their grimaces, countenances of disquiet, uneasiness, restlessness, and agony.The philosopher and writer Manuel Barrios Casares, author of one of the two prologues that accompany the edition, comments: Santiago Ydáñez, autor de las espléndidas serigrafías que acompañan a esta edición de Frankenstein o el moderno Prometeo, parece haberlo conjurado para hacer sitio al vértigo y la angustia experimentados por esa criatura sin creador, huérfana de dioses y de sentido, que tanto nos recuerda a nosotros.Este arte desmiente la soberbia prometeica de una razón tecnoinstrumental, que se arroga la capacidad de dar medida de lo humano, representarse con nitidez sus contornos y planificar con garantías una enmienda de su ser.En las obras de un contemporáneo de Mary Shelley, el pintor Caspar David Friedrich, es la inmensidad de unos paisajes que escapan de los límites del cuadro y de la mirada convencional lo que protesta contra tal cerrazón.En la pintura de Santiago Ydáñez, lo que brota es aquello que no puede ser contenido por la forja neohumanista de lo humano: facciones que atraviesan boca, ojos, mejillas, nariz o frente y que no se dejan encerrar dentro del consabido marco.Santiago Ydáñez, the author of these outstanding serigraphs accompanying this edition of Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus seems to have conjured up images to make room for the vertigo and anguish experienced by this creature without a creator, orphan of gods and sense, who reminds us of ourselves so much.This art belies the Promethean hubris of a technoinstrumental reason which arrogates to itself the ability to measure the human, to represent itself with neat contours and to plan with guarantees an amendment of its own self.In the works of a contemporary of Mary Shelley, the painter Caspar David Friedrich, it is the immensity of those landscapes escaping from the limits of the painting and the conventional sight that protest against reason.In Santiago Ydáñez, comes something which cannot be contained by the neo-humanist forge of the human: features which go beyond the mouth, eyes, cheeks, nose or forehead and which cannot be locked up within the well-known frame.
This work, without any doubt, deserves a place of honour in the history of the illustrated editions of Frankenstein.Ydáñez's visual reading, as Shelley intended and stated in her prologue (1831), fills our soul with that feeling of the terrifying sublime that is able "to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart" (Shelley 8 [Oxford U P]).
The study of the most recent illustrated editions published in Spain (post-2000) presents a curious and happy coincidence: they have all been produced by female artists.Two of them-those illustrated by Cristina Picazo (Barcelona, b. 1969) for the Santillana/El País's series Mis primeros clásicos (2007) and by María Espluga (Barcelona, b. 1968) for Teide's Biblioteca básica (2009)-are adaptations intended not only for young readers, but also for children.Beatriz Picazo's style depicts the creature as one who is naive, although the text adaptation does not hide the cruelty of the themes of the novel: death, revenge, murder, etc. Regarding María Espluga, her illustrations are more elaborate and, even though she avoids the cruellest or most macabre details, she is able to cover the totality of the narration including the more dramatic moments: Justine's imprisonment, and the deaths of Henry, Elizabeth and Clerval, etc.The scenes devoted to the creature are especially remarkable for their capacity to transmit melancholy and loneliness.
Following the long tradition of editions for young readers that we have discussed in this study, in 2008Beatriz Martín Vidal (Valladolid, b. 1973) illustrated an edition for Editorial Bruño.She holds the honour of being the first woman in Spain to illustrate Frankenstein by herself.11While Fuencisla del Amo collaborated with Francisco Solé-and previous women had illustrated adaptations, not the complete original text-Beatriz Martín was the sole illustrator for this complete version of Frankenstein.In her illustrations, she is interested in the child's point of view and transforms the characters into children themselves, emphasizing their fragility against the creature.As discussed elsewhere (González-Moreno and González-Moreno, "Representations"), Victor is represented like a child who takes no responsibility for his actions and is incapable of dealing with complex emotions.On the other hand, the monster-whose birth is reminiscent of a crucified Christ, crying out loud "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"-is partially represented or suggested by the presence of his shadow but never fully perceived by the reader, a device previously used by Everett Henry for The Limited editions Club in 1934.With regards to less well-known Spanish illustrations, Meritxell Ribas Puigmal (Barcelona, b. 1975) became, in 2009, the first woman to illustrate Frankenstein as a graphic novel in Spain (fig.7).Meritxell's style is conditioned by the use of a very specific graphic technique called grattage (scratchboard), which confers an expressive contrast between black and white.This style reminds us of previous Frankenstein illustrations resolved by xylography, situating Meritxell Ribas into the tradition of artists such as the American illustrators and engravers Lynd Ward (Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1934) and Barry Moser (Pennyroyal, 1983).Her most significant addition is the representation of the creature's eyes without iris or pupil; these eyes create a lurking, menacing presence all throughout the book.Finally, our analysis leads us to Elena Odriozola (San Sebastián, b. 1967), who in 2013 presented us with one of the most original approaches to Mary Shelley's novel, printed in Barcelona by Nørdica (fig.8).Her illustrations, a total of thirty-four double-page scenes, may be difficult to understand by the general public.Odriozola is not interested in representing the well-known and iconic passages from the novel, but rather focuses on Mary Shelley's introduction to the 1831 edition, and the biographical events leading to the genesis of Frankenstein.Within the Spanish context, this was not something entirely new.As we stated before, Spanish director Gonzalo Suárez created his version of Frankenstein-Remando al viento [Rowing with the Wind] (1988)-by recreating that famous night at the Villa Diodati in 1816 when Lord Byron urged Percy B. Shelley, Polidori, and Mary Shelley to write a ghost story.To achieve her aim, Odriozola elaborates her own visual prologue and builds up a paper theatre where we attend a drama in four acts.Throughout them, the artist offers Mary Shelley's pain in giving birth to the novel and how that very same process helped the author to exorcise her own demons. 12In 2018 Nørdica decided to reedit Elena Odriozola's illustrations in a commemorative edition; this allows us to complete a pictorial panorama which began in 1944 and ends with Frankenstein's bicentenary.

CONCLUSION
Frankenstein arrived late in Spain, but it strongly clung to its new habitat, proving Mary Shelley's work's ability to morph.First depicted as a gigantic character with X-rays, the creature moved from being a ridiculous monster to an incarnation of its own creator's anxieties.Once the novel started to be more widely read, it was quickly realized that there was more to the story than just a trampling monster.The different illustrators began to pay attention to the frame structure, its complexity, and the main issues conveyed by each character.Similarly, the creature's loneliness and biased education was put forward; his tragedy as a forsaken Adam and his nature/nurture conflict was explored.Mary Shelley was credited as well, not only as a confirmed author but as the monster's own double.Nonetheless, what becomes relevant about the editions that have been discussed is the fact that most of them were intended for young readers-children even.This educational purpose was first pinpointed in the early editions during the Transition and the beginning of the Democracy and it somehow remains until nowadays.In this regard, it is to be praised that illustrators were able to read beyond the simplistic Karloffian image.But it is even more relevant to learn that, even if conditioned by the target reader, they put all their effort into disclosing the full depth of the book.In this sense, unlike William when he was confronted by the creature as his last hope, the youth in Spain have welcomed Frankenstein; Mary Shelley's work has found refuge among the unprejudiced and yet to be educated.As if given a second chance, the monster has found a righteous place in the heart of children and young readers who now know that the monster is no monster at all.Among the Spanish illustrators that have managed to fully enrich the text, two names need to be highlighted: Santiago Ydáñez and Elena Odriozola.They hold the honour of providing the reader with something totally new from the point of view of content and technique.In this sense, they are to be regarded as an authoritative contribution to the history of illustrating Frankenstein, not only in Spain but outside its frontiers.Both Ydáñez and Odriozola have raised Mary Shelley's book and her monster to an unusual artistic level.They, unlike Victor Frankenstein, have not abandoned the creature; on the contrary, they have embraced it and have let it express itself.These artists have been able to explore beyond the monster's filthy form, beyond its ugliness, and to lead the reader into the depth of the human soul.
ES REVIEW: SPANISH JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES 43 (2022): 11-38 E-ISSN 2531-1654 | ISSN 2531-1646 Monster], a humorous series of sketches where the creature is far from being scary.As regards Frankenstein and Spanish filmography, see Castelló's Cien años de Frankenstein.On the way the Gothic was adapted by Spanish writers, see AldanaReyes (150).The only review of the translation stated that "[e]sta es la historia de Frankenstein, al que su mucha ciencia le sirvió de castigo" [this is the story of Frankenstein, to whom his advanced science ended up in punishment] ("Mary Shelley: Frankenstein" [Escorial]).
Frankenstein was included in its collection Terror Clásico Maisal, no. 3, where other adapted titles such as El gato negro [The Black Cat]-illustrated by Arnau also-, Narraciones extraordinarias [Extraordinary Narrations], La maldición [The Curse], and El escarabajo de oro [The Gold Bug], ES REVIEW: SPANISH JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES 43 (2022): 11-38.E-ISSN 2531-1654 | ISSN 2531-1646 Mary Shelley's work and helped to consolidate Frankenstein as a key text, worthy of study.A few years later, according to the TESEO database, the first PhD dissertation on Frankenstein in Spain was