Class Start Date
Class End Date
February 14-18, 2018 at the University of Oklahoma, Norman 3 credits
Jerrold E. Hogel, University of Arizona
In honor of the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Mary Shelley's original novel -- Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus -- this seminar, starting with its students reading the original 1818 text, will explore
- (a) the symbolic meanings of that original version, given the wide range of cultural ingredients that went into it;
- (b) the most influential interpretations of the novel itself since its first appearance, with some attention to what each interpreter assumes;
- (c) some exemplary adaptations of Frankenstein on film across the 20th and 21st centuries, including why they all change the original in their own ways;
- (d) the ongoing significance today of the issues that Frankenstein raises, from problems involving gender, race, and class to the burning questions connected right at this time to genetic engineering.
