the hideous phantasm of a legend stretched out

i really like camille paglia. i don't always agree with her, but i find her extremely perceptive, very funny, and dead one with much of her social and political commentary. in reading her latest think piece at salon.com, she talks about "the man who wrote frankenstein," john lauritsen's book due out in may which posits that percy, not his teenage wife, mary, penned "frankenstein or the modern prometheus." the popular account of percy, mary and lord byron's ghost-story writing contest at lake geneva in 1816 is a great story, especially when considering that the contest most likely would never have been conceived were it not for the eruption of mount tembora in april of the previous year. i hate to see this fascinating origin of frankenstein debunked... it would strike a deep blow to the long history of female intimacy with the grotesque, from "beauty and the beast" to heidi klum and seal.