Why Frankenstein Will Never Die

At only 19, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, 这部开创性的小说被广泛认为是科幻小说的第一部作品. Even now, 200 years after its publication, her story retains its power, continuing to spin off retellings in films, books, and graphic novels.

Why does this story captivate us?

“弗兰肯斯坦至今仍栩栩如生，”英语教授塔玛拉·凯塔吉安(Tamara Ketabgian)说. “The book addresses so many issues that remain urgent. It has to do with autonomy and autonomous life, 它将它们与道德、差异和知识等重要问题联系起来. 它幸存下来是因为它不仅仅是一部虚构的作品，它是一个隐喻，它是一个迷因，它是一个神话.”

去年秋天，Ketabgian教授了一门名为《十大菠菜台子》的写作课程. 她指出，弗兰肯斯坦与大学生特别相关，因为故事的大部分内容都是围绕教育展开的. 小说让我们思考:什么是知识，什么是智慧，什么是正确的学习方式?”

In fact, Ketabgian说，弗兰肯斯坦是一个关于高度专业化教育和孤立学习局限性的警示故事. Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who creates the nameless monster, 他先是学习炼金术，然后又一心一意地执着于化学，把自己封闭起来，追求创造生命的梦想.

“维克多是一个很好的例子，他既坚定又专业，”凯塔吉安说. “He doesn’t think about the consequences or ethics of his actions, and he doesn’t think about creating collaboratively.”

Teaming up with Jennifer Esperanza, 他是人类学教授，也是伯洛伊特大学倡议项目的教务主任, Ketabgian组织了一次关于弗兰肯斯坦的特别跨学科对话, 为纪念小说出版200周年，该活动于万圣节前一天在校园内举行.

The event, designed especially for first-year students, featured Ketabgian, Esperanza, 伯洛伊特学院的两位科学教授分享了他们对这部小说及其文学和电影作品的看法. 参加谈话的许多学生都读过玛丽·雪莱的《真人国际菠菜》, of course, but they’d also read Victor Lavalle’s Destroyer, 这是一部2017年的漫画小说，将弗兰肯斯坦的怪物置于当代社会政治紧张的背景下.

At the conversation, Esperanza, a cultural anthropologist, talked about the importance of stories in understanding cultures, including the stories that articulate fears.

雪莱写《菠菜白菜吧》的时候，欧洲的大部分人口正从农村搬到城市，在工厂里打工挣钱, Esperanza explained. 《菠菜白菜吧》讲述了19世纪人们对资本主义的恐惧，以及资本主义将如何彻底改变工作和社会关系的观念,” she said. “弗兰肯斯坦的怪物可以解释为人们对资本主义的恐惧, an economic system that was new but slightly familiar. It’s an altered, menacing version of what was once familiar.”

Esperanza said Frankenstein also expresses anxieties about race, and, in the United States, articulates the fears white people had of black slaves rising up, demanding rights, and intermingling with whites. Despite the end of slavery, 埃斯佩兰萨认为，这些社会焦虑的残余仍然存在于十大菠菜台子中, citing the 2017 film “Get Out,” which riffs on Frankenstein. 埃斯佩朗萨谈到了这部电影——白人角色将白人的大脑移植到黑人角色的身体里——以及它是如何将种族焦虑的叙事进行翻转的. “It’s about black people’s fear of white supremacy, the ways in which it has co-opted black bodies, and the ways in which it continues today,” she said.

Robin Zebrowski, a professor of cognitive science, pointed out that the themes in Frankenstein—of creation, difference, empathy, monstrosity, and control—are the themes of artificial intelligence. Zebrowski pointed out that early robot stories are about Frankenstein. 她说:“它们是关于建造一种一旦释放出来就无人能控制的东西。. 她指出，有史以来第一部关于机器人的文学作品是1923年一部名为R.U.R.—is a story about a robot uprising.

Britt Scharringhausen, a sci-fi aficionado and professor of physics and astronomy, 通过考虑1818年前后科学界发生的事情——包括对磁和电的发现——以及这些发现所引起的焦虑，把《菠菜白菜吧》置于背景中. Nature, too, 是不是已经开始变得可以控制了, and advances in sustaining life, such as resuscitating drowned people, had started blurring the lines between life and death. “弗兰肯斯坦表达了对生与死之间界限的焦虑，以及创造与毁灭之间的紧张关系,” she said.

沙林豪森指出，这部小说在开创一种全新体坛方面具有重要意义. 她从作者的引言中读了一段话，解释说这个故事不仅仅是幻想，因为它基于当时的科学. 沙林豪森说，这就是科幻小说所做的:它把人物置于推测的情境中, opening up new ways to explore human nature.

“Frankenstein got the whole ball rolling,” she said.