S2 E11 Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein: A Bad Mom, Indeed

If you’ve ever felt you should read Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein, but shortly after starting, found your resolve fading…this is the episode for you!  Sonja commandingly takes the literary wheel and unpacks this intricate novel by illuminating its structure, major themes, and fills in some of the philosophical underpinnings that Shelley explores.  Aside from sharing some childhood Goethe trauma, Vanessa just puts up her feet and enjoys the show.  You, too, will love having the novel broken down for you, whether you have read it, hope to read it, or read it and hope to understand it better.   

At the dawn of the 1800’s, Frankenstein was conceived and executed by a ferociously bright young woman (18 years old when she starts writing it and 19 when she finishes) and her literary creation has rippled beyond her native England to the entire world as a symbol of the dangers of science, thoughtless creation, the importance of community…and our concept of the monstrous both in body and in deed.  Victor “births” a creature–just to see if he can–and his egotistical deed haunts the creature, Victor’s family and friends, and himself, unto death.

Along the way, get some tips on how to read by spying on a family in their cottage home, travel to the uninhabited Arctic looking for a bff, learn how convenient it is to have a beautiful 1st cousin willing to marry you, and marvel at how a self-obsessed young man manages to destroy everyone he loves. Regardless of the huge historical and cultural influence, Shelley’s novel is a great story!

In the Show Notes this week, find links to several overviews of writers, ideas, and other novels that Sonja and Vanessa touch on as they explore Frankenstein.  

REFERENCES:

Link to National Theater Production of Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch as the Monster

There are many good editions of the 1818 edition of Frankenstein, and we were using the Broadview Press edition that is available for purchase through the publisher or second hand on many used book websites.  In addition to the text, it contains several very helpful critical articles and helps one understand the influence of Mary Shelley’s two literary parents on her work.

Here is an overview of the Romantic Period from Eastern Connecticut State University that covers the main ideas and notes key writers of both poetry and prose that can give you a good sense of who else to read if you are interested in this time period.

Thought Co article on Gothic Literature would be a good starting point if you hear the word “gothic” and are not sure what it means. 

If you want an intro to the ideas of Edmund Burke, you might start here on the Great Thinkers website.

We also mentioned Harriet Lerner’s renowned classic, The Dance of Anger.  This and Lerner’s other insightful works are available through the Harriet Lerner Website.  So worth checking out!

This Smithsonian article explains Galvanism, in case you want to create your own monster (Frankenstein is referenced in this article), or if–as Sonja noted–you just want to animate a noodle.  (We all have different goals in life.) 

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy offers an overview of Rousseau’s life and explains how he develops his theory that humanity is basically good but corrupted by society.  

Other Works Mentioned:  The links here are to our favorite local bookstore, The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence Kansas, and they can ship anywhere!  Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes and Johann Wolfgang von Geothe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther

The Royal Society of Chemistry has a quick overview of the principles of alchemy here.  If you end up making gold out of lead, please do send us a nugget to support the podcast.