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Housekeeping:
- Pass around sign-in sheet
- Wiki issues?
- How was the DIA?
Frankenstein's Cultural Awakening
Frankenstein's Global Awareness: Weather Alert!
Mount Tambora: The Year Without A Summer
Resources:
- Schmoop Frankenstein summary.
- The Real Story of Frankenstein's Monster (Full Documentary). BBC
Church, Frederic Edwin. "Cotopaxi." 1862. Oil on canvas. American.
Exploration and Romanticism
The international context of Frankenstein begins in the frame story.
- Who are the characters?
- What is going on?
Lord Byron: Romantic Heroes and Explorers
Lord Byron was one of the leaders of Romantic movement. The persona he established embodied Romantic values of heroism and exploration.
In the first decades of the 1800s, there were still blank spaces on world maps. These blank spaces inspired Romantic hopes and art.
Genre Formation
The novel was a genre that emerged at the end of the eighteenth-century (1700s). As Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, she also helped define this genre.
What are the characteristics of Shelley's novel?
Circumnavigation and the Circulation of Bodies
Who moves in this novel? Where do they go? Why? Let's map it together!
Discussion Questions:
- What is the significance of this circulation of bodies?
- How does this model the changing global dynamics of 1815?
Encountering Truth:
Frankenstein includes layers upon layers of narratives (like wooden stacking dolls - one narrative within another). Who tells these stories? How do these stories shift our ideas about "truth" (or "truth in narrative")? Does any person recount an encounter in the same way? What does this say about cultural encounters (and how the reality is perceived by different parties?)?
Discussion Questions:
- What is man?
- What is life?
- What is heroism?
- What is truth?
- What is good and evil?
Frankenstein revolves around some of the biggest questions that we wrestle with as humans. What answers does the text provide to these questions?
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