Vertiefungsseminar Literature as Experiment The Case of Frankenstein Mo 12.30-14.00

Course Description: -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. […]” (Frankenstein 1818) The notion of ‘experiment’ is closely connected to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. But is there really only one single -experiment” involved in this novel, referring to the creation of the ‘creature’? Or are there various other experiments on different levels of the text and even beyond the boundaries of the text proper? One aim of this course is to explore the origins of Frankenstein by studying the scientific contexts in which the concept of experiment emerged historically; theories of historical epistemology and science studies will allow us to develop new approaches towards Frankenstein. In addition to this, we will inquire into the textual genesis of Shelley’s novel experiment by comparing among others the 1818 version with the revised version from 1831 and by studying the drafts and notebooks included in The Shelley-Godwin Archive. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. New York, London: Norton 2012 (1818). ISBN: 978-0-393-92793-1 http://shelleygodwinarchive.org Anglistik u. Amerikanistik (BA, PO 2013) Erg.fach Universität Düsseldorf WiSe 2015/16 Krutsch Ipek Sirena