Seminar in Reading and Interpretation (300-0-20)

Topic

Frankenstein and Friends

Instructors

Christine Froula

Meeting Info

Locy Hall 110: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

When eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley opened her eyes with "a thrill of fear" at her first idea of Frankenstein, she felt that "what terrified me would terrify others." But never did she foresee that her contribution to her friend Lord Byron's ghost story contest on Lake Geneva that stormy summer of 1816 would launch two centuries--and counting--of robust reading, interpretation, and creative adaptation. What momentous questions, insights, and understandings has her story inspired in its long global reception across countries, cultures, and media? How do the rich conditions and influences surrounding its creation—from the French Revolution to Mary's intellectual legacies from her parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, to myths of Prometheus, Genesis, and the Ancient Mariner to scientific experiments in "animal electricity" or Galvanism, and more--shape the ways it speaks to preoccupations of readers, thinkers, and artists in particular historical and cultural moments? As for Frankenstein's friends: what were Mary's friends and fellow ghost story concocters—Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, John Polidori, Claire Clairmont--writing that summer? How does the genius loci or "spirit of place"—the sublime locales of Lake Geneva and the Alps, rich in geological, human, and cultural history—infuse their imaginative works--Byron's and Polidori's "vampyre" stories (Dracula's precursors), Byron's "The Prisoner of Chillon," Percy Shelley's "Mont Blanc"--as well as their letters, journals, and memoirs? As we join this myriadminded conversation—historical and contemporary, scholarly and popular, critical and creative--we'll formulate and debate our own questions, develop our own readings and interpretations, deepen and hone our literary historical and analytic skills—and have fun.

Teaching Method

Discussion.

Evaluation Method

Attendance, preparation, participation; written and oral exercises; course project in class presentation and essay form.

Class Materials (Required)

Third (3rd --only) Norton Critical Edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, ed. J Paul Hunter (2021). ISBN-10 ‏, 0393644022 ISBN-13 ‎ 978-0393644029.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for English students.