After two centuries, Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ remains one of the most enduring works of Romantic and Gothic literature, defining much of modern science-fiction. Now, Del Toro’s excellent new adaptation shows it still has room to be developed and reinterpreted.

Anton Chekhov’s influence on modern literature endures to this day. While best known for his dramatic works, Chekhov’s short stories masterfully portray the lives of ordinary people in 19th-century Russia – where seismic social transformations were taking place.

“The bourgeois like to think that they alone are born with the right to dominate culture. But every human being has the potential to appreciate the arts, and to excel in all of them. This artistic potential of the masses will be unleashed when they move to change society.”