Frankenstein and Its Classics is the first collection of scholarship dedicated to how Frankenstein and works inspired by it draw on ancient Greek and Roman literature, history, philosophy, and myth. Presenting twelve new essays intended for students, scholars, and other readers of Mary Shelley's novel, the volume explores classical receptions in some of Frankenstein's most important scenes, sources, and adaptations. Not limited to literature, the chapters discuss a wide range of modern materials-including recent films like Alex Garland's Ex Machina and comics like Matt Fraction's and Christian Ward's Ody-C-in relation to ancient works including Hesiod's Theogony, Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Apuleius's The Golden Ass. All together, these studies show how Frankenstein, a foundational work of science fiction, brings ancient thought to bear on some of today's most pressing issues, from bioengineering and the creation of artificial intelligence to the struggles of marginalized communities and political revolution. This addition to the comparative study of classics and science fiction reveals deep similarities between ancient and modern ways of imagining the world-and emphasizes the prescience and ongoing importance of Mary Shelley's immortal novel. As Frankenstein turns 200, its complex engagement with classical traditions is more significant than ever.
Author(s): Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Jesse Weiner, Brett M. Rogers
Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 289
Tags: Science Fiction: Classical Influences, Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797–1851, Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s Monster (Fictitious character), Frankenstein, Victor (Fictitious character), Prometheus (Greek deity): In literature, Frankenstein Films
Cover page
......Page 1
Halftitle page
......Page 2
Series page
......Page 3
Title page
......Page 4
Copyright page
......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
Contributors......Page 11
Illustrations......Page 14
Introduction: The Modern Prometheus Turns 200......Page 16
Frankenstein and Its Classics: The Case of Plutarch......Page 20
The Frankenstein Tradition: The Case of Scalzi (and Jared)......Page 24
Frankenstein ’s Classical Receptions and Twenty-First-Century Questions......Page 26
Outline of the Volume......Page 29
Notes......Page 33
Part One Promethean Heat......Page 38
1 Patchwork Paratexts and Monstrous Metapoetics: “After tea M reads Ovid”......Page 40
Monstrous Metapoets: Ovidian Frankensteins......Page 41
Monstrous Metamorphoses: Matter unform’d and Ovid......Page 44
Patchwork Paratexts: “Prometheus mixt”......Page 47
Notes......Page 55
Galvanic or Organic? Two Films......Page 57
Which Prometheus?......Page 59
Erasmus Darwin’s Giants......Page 64
Little Worms and Dr. Darwin’s Vermicelli......Page 66
Magi and Alchemists......Page 70
Notes......Page 71
3 The Politics of Revivification in Lucan’s Bellum Civile and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein......Page 74
The “Galvanic Process”: Lucan’s and Shelley’s Monsters......Page 75
Lucan on the Corpse of the Res Publica......Page 78
Shelley and the French Revolution......Page 81
Notes......Page 88
4 Romantic Prometheis and the Molding of Frankenstein......Page 91
Newton’s Return to Nature and Percy Shelley’s Queen Mab......Page 93
Pantheons and Modern Prometheis......Page 97
Notes......Page 102
The Eruption......Page 106
The Aftermath......Page 109
Conclusion: Mary Shelley in 1816......Page 113
Glossary......Page 114
Notes......Page 115
Introduction......Page 117
Ars poetica: Hesiod’s Pandora......Page 118
How to Make a Monster......Page 120
Technology of the Sublime: Hesiod......Page 122
Deformity and/as the Kantian Sublime......Page 124
Technology of the Sublime: Longinus......Page 126
Conclusions: The Creature as Genius loci of the Sublime Landscape......Page 128
Notes......Page 130
Part Two Hideous Progeny......Page 136
Introduction......Page 138
Historical Connections via Paratextual Evidence......Page 141
Cupid and Psyche in Frankenstein: Forms and Themes......Page 144
Cupid and Psyche at the End of Human History: The Last Man......Page 150
Conclusions: The Future of Frankenstein ’s Classical Receptions; or, Mary Shelley’s Apuleian Science Fiction?......Page 153
Notes......Page 155
8 The Pale Student of Unhallowed Arts: Frankenstein, Aristotle, and theWisdom of Lucretius......Page 160
Notes......Page 166
9 Timothy Leary and the Psychodynamics of Stealing Fire......Page 168
Literary Activism, or Hacking the Promethean Myth......Page 170
Timothy Leary; or, the Modern Victor Frankenstein......Page 172
Unmasking the Monster: Magic Mushrooms and the Neuropolitics of Empathy......Page 176
Reanimating Leary’s Legacy......Page 182
Notes......Page 183
Introduction......Page 185
Antiquarianism, Recombination, and Reanimation in Spark of Being......Page 187
Monsters in the Mirror, Monsters on the Screen......Page 194
Conclusion......Page 199
Notes......Page 201
11 Alex Garland’s Ex Machina or The Modern Epimetheus......Page 205
Notes......Page 218
Thinking with Prometheus1......Page 221
The Modern Prometheus......Page 223
Postmodern/Posthuman Prometheus......Page 228
Ancient Prometheus......Page 237
Notes......Page 238
Short Stories, Novels, and Plays......Page 243
Film......Page 248
Television......Page 251
Bibliography......Page 253
Index......Page 282
