May 23, 2019

9. Frankenstein.

Listen Later

58 minutes

It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my

toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the

instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the

lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the

rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out,

when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye

of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its

limbs.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story that

seems familiar to everyone—even people who haven’t read the novel (or seen any

of the movie adaptations). But the novel fleshes out the story that everyone

is familiar with (a scientist creates a creature out of dead parts, releasing

a force of havoc and destruction upon the world) in a number of intriguing

ways. Suzanne and Chris discuss how the novel tackles creation, parenting,

corporeality, nature, and death—as well as how thoroughly it is connected to

Paradise Lost, and why it has inspired

so many adaptations.

Show Notes.

We read the original 1818 text of Frankenstein.

It‘s also available on Project

Gutenberg or as a free audiobook on

Librivox.

[Bookshop.]

The New Annotated Frankenstein.

Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All

Kinds.

The Strange and Twisted Life of

Frankenstein, which includes some information about racialized

imaginings of the creature.

The Science of Life and Death in Mary Shelley’s

Frankenstein.

Next time: Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. Also on

Gutenberg and

Librivox.

You can support The Spouter-Inn (and the rest

of the Megaphonic podcasts) through Patreon.

Thanks!

...more

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The Spouter-Inn

By Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Chris Piuma

4.8

3030 ratings

May 23, 2019

9. Frankenstein.

Listen Later

58 minutes

It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my

toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the

instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the

lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the

rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out,

when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye

of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its

limbs.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story that

seems familiar to everyone—even people who haven’t read the novel (or seen any

of the movie adaptations). But the novel fleshes out the story that everyone

is familiar with (a scientist creates a creature out of dead parts, releasing

a force of havoc and destruction upon the world) in a number of intriguing

ways. Suzanne and Chris discuss how the novel tackles creation, parenting,

corporeality, nature, and death—as well as how thoroughly it is connected to

Paradise Lost, and why it has inspired

so many adaptations.

Show Notes.

We read the original 1818 text of Frankenstein.

It‘s also available on Project

Gutenberg or as a free audiobook on

Librivox.

[Bookshop.]

The New Annotated Frankenstein.

Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All

Kinds.

The Strange and Twisted Life of

Frankenstein, which includes some information about racialized

imaginings of the creature.

The Science of Life and Death in Mary Shelley’s

Frankenstein.

Next time: Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. Also on

Gutenberg and

Librivox.

You can support The Spouter-Inn (and the rest

of the Megaphonic podcasts) through Patreon.

Thanks!

...more