Frankenreads Q&A: University of Minnesota
We continue the Frankenreads Q&A series today by presenting an interview with Communications Associate Terri Sutton on behalf of Professor Andrew Elfenbein, organizer of Frankenreads at the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota's series of Frankenreads events kicks off today, 25 September, with a discussion of early film adaptations of Victor Frankenstein's creature.
What made you want to participate in Frankenreads, and what do you think is the relevance of Mary Shelley's iconic novel today?
We had already planned a series commemorating the 200th birthday of Mary Shelley's novel and were excited to see that the celebration is international and widespread. Clearly Frankenstein has been and continues to be influential on popular culture here, from movies/TV to fiction to music, etc. Ask an American to imagine a monster, and odds are the image will be of some version or ancestor of Boris Karloff's 1931 embodiment. The dangers of advancing human technology have always been and, again, continue to be of concern to many people; the same goes for the dangers of mobilizing against feared others. It's difficult to imagine the novel not being relevant.
What are you doing for Frankenreads, who is involved, and what makes your Frankenreads event unique?
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, the University of Minnesota Department of English is presenting public readings, screenings, and talks that will explore many monster creations and honor the woman who wrote the first ever science fiction novel. The first event (Sept 25) is a discussion of early movie monsters, including the 1910 and 1931 Frankensteins. The second (Oct 23) features Minneapolis professional actors reading from Mary Shelley's novel, as well as other 19th-century monster texts. The third (on Oct 31) takes as its inspiration the ghost story writing challenge that birthed Frankenstein: this is a contest for undergraduate and graduate students to write ghost stories; the winners will read their stories on Halloween night. The final two events (Nov 2 and 5) involve a lecture on 'The Rights of Monsters: Allegory and the Body Politic' and a reading of the monster parts of the Old English epic Beowulf. Details here. The series involves students and faculty at the University of Minnesota, plus a visiting lecturer and professional actors, and the public, of course - who are invited to all the events. The sheer diversity of our event series - situating Frankenstein within film, literary history, creative writing, and politics - is what makes it stand out. We're not only reading the novel out loud, although we do that, but reading it within multiple contexts. Last year, we honored Jane Austen on the 200th anniversary of her death with a fall series, and the events were delightful and enormously popular. We can't wait to kick off this Shelley celebration!
The University of Minnesota's Frankenreads celebration will include a lecture on 'The Rights of Monsters: Allegory and the Body Politic' by University of Tennessee Associate Professor, Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud, who is the author of Radical Orientalism: Rights, Reform, and Romanticism (Cambridge University Press, 2015). The lecture will take place at 12pm on November 2nd in Heller Hall, Room 1210.
