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Honouring Frankenstein's 200th anniversary: 老司机直播 scholars hold week-long celebration

Photo of Frankenstein manuscript
The original manuscript of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was exhibited at the University of Oxford in 2010 (photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

More than two centuries ago, inspired by a frightening daydream, Mary Shelley wrote a novel called Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Published in 1818, the story of a scientist who brings to life a monstrous patchwork humanoid would become a classic, and the book has never gone out of print. Two hundred years after Shelley published her novel, its questions about the meaning of human life and society are as freshly compelling in an age of artificial intelligence as they were in the Age of Steam.

On this bicentennial anniversary of Frankenstein鈥檚 publication, University of Toronto Assistant Professors Paolo Granata and Jean-Olivier Richard, both at University of St. Michael's College, and  Terry F. Robinson, an assistant professor in the department of English, are making sure the book receives a worthy celebration. With the sponsorship and support of the Jackman Humanities Institute, the trio has spent months organizing a week-long interdisciplinary program , which will run from Oct. 24 to 31. The itinerary includes film screenings, special exhibits, a day-long academic symposium and a marathon reading of the novel at the Toronto Reference Library.

鈥淣o Western novel past or present has had the same kind of popular, intercultural and interdisciplinary impact as Mary Shelley鈥檚 Frankenstein,鈥 says Robinson. On the most basic level, the book remains relevant because it 鈥渢ranslates an ancient warning for a modern context 鈥 for a society no longer governed by myth but by technology.鈥 That warning? 鈥淭hat unreflective hubris can produce dire consequences.鈥

Granata, who will chair a global conference on media ethics at St. Michael鈥檚 in June of 2019, also finds the book鈥檚 ethical dimension to be the key to its ongoing relevance, particularly when it comes to today鈥檚 rapid advances in technology. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to take ethics into account for a critical interpretation of the role of technology in today鈥檚 world and the future,鈥 he says.

This call to action has been associated with Frankenstein since its publication. Richard refers to a paper in which philosopher Heather E. Douglas uses the Manhattan Project 鈥 the scientific collaboration that led to the creation of the first nuclear weapons 鈥 to illustrate the moral stakes of the book鈥檚 ancient warning. (Publishers Weekly quotes a reporter after Hiroshima as saying, 鈥淲e have created Frankenstein.鈥)

Boris Karloff in the Bride of Frankenstein: Nearly 100 years before the film, Frankenstein was adapted for the London stage (photo via John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images)

Perhaps little known to modern readers is the fact that Frankenstein鈥檚 earliest adaptations were for the stage, notes Robinson, and its malleable narrative entertained popular audiences in London 鈥渘early 100 years before Universal Studios introduced Boris Karloff as Frankenstein鈥檚 monster.鈥 The book also presents readers with 鈥渕ultiple generic styles [and] narratives鈥 that 鈥渟erve the deeper philosophical purpose of the novel by providing insight into multiple perspectives.鈥 While the ethical questions have been clear and urgent from the book鈥檚 publication, its variable form has made it possible for each generation of readers to respond to the book in markedly different ways.

Frankenstein helped to establish the genre of science fiction. On Wednesday, a panel presentation at the Merril Collection鈥檚 special exhibit 鈥溾 at the Lillian H. Smith Library will kick off the week-long program. The story by Shelley (pictured left) reflected Romantic-era anxieties about the progress of scientific reason; the moment Dr. Frankenstein鈥檚 creature comes to life demonstrates Shelley鈥檚 familiarity with 鈥淕alvanism,鈥 says Richard 鈥 the study of so-called 鈥渁nimal electricity,鈥 a hot scientific topic at the time. (鈥淭he specific reanimation of decapitated bodies鈥 using electric currents became a spectacular galvanic fad at the beginning of the 19th century, he says.) A century later, early-20th-century film adaptations would reflect Progressive-Era beliefs about eugenics and biological determinism, with the doctor鈥檚 assistant Igor sealing the creature鈥檚 villainous fate by mistakenly stealing a 鈥渃riminal鈥 brain for it from an anatomy lab.

Frankenstein continues to spur engagements with contemporary issues. The Cinema Studies Institute鈥檚 professor Brian Jacobson will introduce the film Ex Machina (2014) before a screening on Thursday, at St. Michael鈥檚; the movie updates Shelley鈥檚 mythology for an era of artificial intelligence. The story has also given expression to new questions about race, justice and society. Novelist Victor Lavalle鈥檚 graphic novel Destroyer (2018) continues Shelley鈥檚 story in an age of widespread concern over police violence in communities of racialized residents. 

Richard notes that though Shelley wrote Frankenstein as a frightening ghost story, the novel has lost some of its fear factor. He will introduce a screening of Mel Brooks鈥 Young Frankenstein (1974) on Monday in order to show a more lighthearted side of the book鈥檚 cultural reception. The Halloween marathon reading on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at the Toronto Reference library 鈥 with interlude music from film adaptations 鈥 will serve a similar purpose.

But even if Frankenstein doesn鈥檛 frighten modern readers, it provides an endless source of fascination to scholars and specialists, many of whom will participate in a daylong 鈥渁cademic campfire鈥 symposium on the book at St. Michael鈥檚 on Friday. Presenters from across Canada and the U.S. will discuss topics as diverse as cybernetics, the history of the book鈥檚 interpretation, the prospect of 鈥渞esponsible鈥 science and the way that theatrical stagings changed the reception of the book.

In celebrating the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein, one question seems particularly apt: 鈥淲ho are the Victor Frankenstein鈥檚 of today鈥檚 world?鈥 In response to this question, Granata suggests looking into a recent television show 鈥 Black Mirror.

 begins Wednesday. All events will be free and open to the public.

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