Literature Discussion Group: September 2015

12 September 2015

"It's alive!"

If those two words conjure the image of a mad scientist throwing his head back and bellowing toward the heavens, it's probably because of this:

But it's certainly not because of this:

This is the cover of an 1882 edition of the novel.

That's because the 1931 film version of Frankenstein—like so many movies based on books—takes a few liberties with Mary Shelley's original characters and storyline.

Alas, Victor Frankenstein is not exactly exhilarated when his creature comes to life. In fact, his response is decidedly different from the performance given by Colin Clive in the scene above. And that's just one difference you'll find between the original story (crafted by Shelley circa 1816) and its many modern retellings.

AS YOU READ...

Make mental notes (or written notes, if you prefer) of what surprises you about the book. Certainly, we all come to this one with a bit of baggage. It would be hard to live in a western culture that celebrates Halloween and not have some knowledge of Frankenstein. It will be interesting to hear what surprised (or didn't surprise) people during the reading.

GET HELP IF YOU NEED IT

Shelley's sentence construction tends to be long and involved, and sometimes (often) her characters speak in paragraphs without interruption. This can result in a difficult reading experience at times, for sure.

If you find yourself struggling with the narrative at any point, feel free to head on over to Shmoop's Frankenstein learning guide and check out the chapter summaries to make sure you understand what's happening.

While Shmoop's summary is no substitute for reading the actual text, it can be a big help if you need a little nudge along the way to keep things moving.

OUR ASSIGNMENTS

Please complete one of the following and be ready to share your work when we meet on the 23rd.

Option #1:

Head over to Flavorwire and check out their 15 vintage book covers of Frankenstein. Choose your favorite cover and do a little analysis for us.

What scene or character is portrayed on the front?

What impression of the story does this cover convey?

Is there anything on the cover that seems symbolic? If so what and how?

How well do you think the cover represents the story? Explain.

Option #2:

People disagree over just how well written Frankenstein is and whether or not it deserves "classic" status. Germaine Greer calls it downright bad, while monica45 and literaturenerd (two contributors at enotes) speak glowingly of Shelley's approach. Take a look at their comments and decide who you think is right. Then, regardless of what you think of the quality of Shelley's writing, tell us why you think it is that this story has endured for 200 years.

Option #3:

The alternate title for Frankenstein is "The Modern Prometheus." Read up on the myth of Prometheus and be ready to explain to us why this title fits. Who, in the novel, is Prometheus? What parallels do you see?

Option #4:

What side of the nature vs. nurture debate does the story of Frankenstein seem to support? How do you know? Find at least three quotes from the books that support your opinion.

Option #5:

(Psst! This question is taken directly from Shmoop.)
You might have noticed some Christian influences in this text. To start off, there's the creator/creation paradigm. And, of course, the monster is compared to Adam. But the monster is also compared to the fallen angel—Satan—and Victor takes on comparisons to God. You could even go so far as to call Victor's death a sacrifice that makes him a Christ figure. What might Shelley be saying about religion, and Christianity in particular? (Keep in mind that, while we're not sure how Mary Shelley felt about religion, both her father and husband were big, honking atheists in a time when atheism could get you into serious trouble.)

Okay. That should give you plenty to think about between now and our discussion on the 23rd. And please, just do your best with these assignments. For those of you who are new to the group, don't be intimidated

Happy reading!

Looking For Hamlet Scholar Talk

This is another event at the PPL in March in honor of the First Folio Exhibit, and it's on Wednesday, March 9th from 12-1:30pm in the Rines Auditorium.

"Focusing on Hamlet, University of Southern Maine Professor Ben Bertram will examine the way editors, directors, actors, teachers, and scholars choose among folio, quarto, or conflated versions of the plays. He will also be accompanied by actors who will perform Hamlet’s soliloquies and join in a discussion of how Shakespeare’s words make it from the page to the stage."

Get the full description here.

Definitions and Clarifications

pneumatic, adj. - literally, full of air. This term is often used to describe women in BNW, and seems to suggest that a woman like Lenina, who's "wonderfully pneumatic," is buxom, curvy, shapely, and yes, even bouncy. But pneumatic could also have a second meaning here, and that is to indicate that someone is a bit of an air-head, light on the intellectual matter, or not bogged down by weighty matters or considerations.

viviparous, adj. - a creature that is viviparous gives birth to live young that develop inside the body, as in the way mammals reproduce. Humans are viviparous (at least, they were until A.F. 632).

Malthusian, adj. - based on the beliefs of Robert Thomas Malthus, a British economist who argued that "population tends to increase faster than food supply, with inevitably disastrous results unless the increase in population is checked by moral restraints or by war, famine, and disease." - The Free Dictionary

Pavlovian Conditioning, n. - also called Classic Conditioning, it's a way of getting a subject to make certain associations between two previously unrelated things; Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was the psychologist who discovered that if he always rang a bell right before feeding his dogs, they came to associate the sound of the bell with getting fed, and therefore would start to drool upon hearing the bell. Here's a great comic related to that experiment.

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