Frankenreads Q & A, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

We continue the Frankenreads Q & A series today with a conversation with Assistant Professor Laura R. Kremmel at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, who has organized a series of unique Frankenstein celebrations this month, for both the campus and the local community in Rapid City, SD! Follow her students as they tweet about the events throughout October,  @TheMinesFranken. What made you want to participate in Frankenreads, and what do you think is the relevance of Mary Shelley’s iconic novel today?I jumped at the opportunity to participate in Frankenreads because Frankenstein is such a versatile piece of literature, and the fact that so many people from so many places will be celebrating it together highlights that versatility. At its heart, this is a novel about the simultaneous inhumanity and humanity of discovery; that the power-play of creation and creator--in all the ways that it's applicable--can take both parties by surprise. I think that Shelley's biography is pivotal to how I understand the lack of control in these dichotomies, and I know it's a big part of a lot of the celebrations happening through Frankenreads. When I teach this novel to my STEM students, I include background on Mary Shelley's life, not just her astounding knowledge of death but also her knowledge of science. One student told me the other day that she was surprised at how accurate the descriptions of science are in the novel, written so long ago and rewritten into our cultural imagination so many times. I think STEM students, without much prompting, recognize themselves in it.What are you doing for Frankenreads, who is involved, and what makes your Frankenreads event unique?Our Frankenreads events are unique because South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a STEM school. We don't have a Department of English, we have a Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, and it can be difficult for the Humanities to have a place in event- planning on campus. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein, we have a range of activities, some completely our own and some we have commandeered or shared. The Music Department does a "Fantasy and Fright" concert in October, and we are adding a bit of Frankenstein to it. The university has just started a series of monthly lectures called STEAM Cafe, and I will be giving the October talk and inviting members of the drama club to do a brief reading of the novel. Students from my composition classes will be putting Victor Frankenstein on trial, performing the parts of lawyers, witnesses, and experts in order to argue for his innocence or guilt. Students in my upper-level Gothic Literature course will be participating in a range of activities, including running a community discussion of the novel at the local art center, introducing two film screenings on campus (the 1931 Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein), running a twitter account, and doing some pop-up Frankenreads-style readings. We are so excited to get the campus and community involved in this celebration!