WINTER HUMANITIES WEEKEND 2002
March 1 - 2, 2002
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
The Long Life of a Monster

Numerous commentators on the U.S. war in Afghanistan have reminded the public that the Taliban are our "Frankenstein's monster" - a force we helped to create, only to see it turn against us. We have here one more example of what a powerful archetype the 21-year-old Mary Shelley created when she published her Gothic novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus in 1818.

She tells the story of a young Swiss medical student, Victor Frankenstein, who seeks to apply the new science of electricity to an ancient quest - the renewal of life in bodies that are dead. He creates the most famous monster in literature, only to have it turn against him when he rejects its longing for human affection.

The Winter Weekend will combine a close analysis of her novel with broad-ranging discussions of the cultural impact of the Frankenstein story across two centuries. Topics will include the relationship of the writers in the Shelley circle; the popularity of the Gothic novel then and now; the medical and bio-ethical debate over human cloning; the links between Frankenstein and other archetypal figures like Prometheus, Milton's Satan, and Goethe's Faust; and the monster in popular culture, including several movie versions of Frankenstein.