Frankenstein
& His World

Course Description

This course explores the cultural context of and future cultural uses for Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Course Schedule

Readings without a link can be found in the required textbook, unless otherwise noted. Some readings may also be posted to our Blackboard site for the class. If a link does not work, please email me immediately!

Unit 1–Political & Scientific Origins

10.17 Thu

Listen to Class Overview Podcast; Listen to Unit 1 Overview Podcast

10.18 Fri

Read:

Listen:

  • Podcast on Mary Wollstonecraft and Early Feminism

10.21 Mon

Read:

Listen:

  • Podcast on Science and Frankenstein

Unit 2–A Party by Lake Geneva

10.24 Thu

Read:

Watch:

Listen:

  • Podcast on The Composition of Frankenstein

10.25 Fri

Reading Journal Entry #1 Due

10.28 Mon

Read:

  • "Mont Blanc" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • "[Sea of Ice]" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • "Darkness" by Lord Byron
  • "Prometheus" by Lord Byron
  • "From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto III" by Lord Byron

Listen:

  • Podcast on Romanticism and Frankenstein

11.01 Fri

Reading Journal Entry #2 Due

Read:

  • "Letter Prefaced to The Vampyre" by John William Polidori
  • The Vampyre by John William Polidori

Listen:

  • Podcast on The Vampyre

11.03 Sun

Listen:

  • Podcast Introducing Frankenstein
  • Podcast Introducing Assignment #1

11.08 Fri

Reading Journal Entry #3 Due

Read:

  • "Introduction to Frankenstein, 3rd Edition" by Mary Shelley
  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Listen:

  • Podcast on Frankenstein

11.11 Mon

Listen:

  • Podcast Introducing Assignment #2

11.12 Tue

Assignment #1 Due

Unit 3–Immediate Responses

11.15 Fri

Reading Journal Entry #4 Due

Read:

Listen:

  • Podcast on Presumption

11.18 Mon

Assignment #2 Due

Listen:

  • Podcast Introducing Assignment #3

Unit 4–Frankenstein on Film

11.22 Fri

Reading Journal Entry #5 Due

Read:

  • "Approaches to Frankenstein [in Film]" by David Pirie

Watch:

Listen:

  • Podcast on Early Frankenstein Films.

11.25 Mon

Watch:

  • Young Frankenstein (dir. Mel Brooks, 1974)
  • X-Files, "The Post-Modern Prometheus" (on Netflix), Season 5, Ep. 5

Listen:

  • Podcast on Postmodern Frankenstein Films.

11.27 Wed

Assignment #3 Due

Unit 5–Feminist Frankensteins

12.01 Sun

Reading Journal Entry #6 Due

Read:

  • "The Female Gothic" by Ellen Moers
  • "Horror's Twin: Mary Shelley's Monstrous Eve" by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar
  • "'My Hideous Progeny': The Lady and the Monster" by Mary Poovey
  • "Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein" by Anne K. Mellor

Listen:

  • Podcast on Feminist Frankestein
  • Podcast Introducing Assignment #4

12.04 Wed

Read:

Listen:

  • Podcast on Feminist SF and Frankenstein

12.06 Fri

Reading Journal Entry #7 Due

Assignment #4 Due