The Science of Life and Death in Frankenstein
Sharon Ruston
Monday, 28 March 2022
2:00pm
1 hour
Weston Lecture Theatre
£7 - £12.50
Expert in romanticism Sharon Ruston explains how Mary Shelley and her contemporaries wove early 19th-century knowledge and debate about science and medicine and life and death into their works.
Ruston says the question: What is life? was of particular concern to Shelley and other writers. She looks at what they thought of air, blood, sunlight, electricity, and other elements believed to be essential to life. And she explores the contemporary scientific basis behind Victor Frankenstein’s idea that life and death were merely ‘ideal bounds’ he could transgress in the making of the creature.
Ruston is chair of Romanticism at Lancaster University. Her books include Shelley and Vitality, Romanticism: An Introduction, and Creating Romanticism: Case Studies in the Science, Literature and Medicine of the 1790s.
Presented by Bodleian Libraries
Event Presented by
Supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the UK
Festival cultural partner
Festival ideas partner
The Spanish Embassy: supporters of the programme of Spanish literature and culture
The Cervantes Institute, London
__thumb.png){kind=logo}
__thumb.jpeg){kind=logo}
__thumb.jpg){kind=logo}
-
Inigo Bing Interviewed by Nick Higham
The Ten Legal Cases that Made Modern Britain SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 12:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Claire Harman Interviewed by Alexandra Pringle
All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the Art of Risking Everything
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 12:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Dave Rich Interviewed by Rebecca Abrams
Everyday Hate: How Antisemitism is Built into our World – and how you can Change it
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
__main.jpg)
Richard Ovenden, John Garth and Stuart Lee Chaired by Grace Khuri
The Great Tales Never End: in Memory of Christopher Tolkien
Weston Lecture Theatre 12:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Tom Symington
Symington Wine SOLD OUT
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 12:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Peter McCullough Introduced by Triona Adams
To Speake of Tears: A Sermon by John Donne
Lincoln College: Chapel 12:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Joseph Coelho
The Power of Poetry with the New Children’s Laureate
Sheldonian Theatre 1:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Phil Tinline
The Death of Consensus: 100 Years of British Political Nightmares
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 2:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Hermione Lee Interviewed by Nicolette Jones
Tom Stoppard: A Life
Bodleian: Divinity School 2:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Emma Wells
Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedral SOLD OUT
Weston Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Becky Smethurst
A Brief History of Black Holes and Why Nearly Everything you know about them is Wrong CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 2:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Paul Anthony Jones Interviewed by Alison Gomm
Why is this a Question? Everything about the Origins and Oddities of Language SOLD OUT
Bodleian: Divinity School 4:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Jason Whittaker
Jerusalem: Blake, Parry, and the Fight for Englishness
Oxford Martin School: Seminar Room 4:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Guy Standing
The Blue Commons: Rescuing the Economy of the Sea
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Vanessa Winship Interviewed by Jem Poster
The Speaking Image
Weston Lecture Theatre 4:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Tom Symington
Symington Port SOLD OUT
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 4:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Mikhail Khodorkovsky Interviewed by Martin Sixsmith
The Russia Conundrum
Sheldonian Theatre 4:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Tim Lenton Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen
James Lovelock and Gaia
Weston Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
A N Wilson Interviewed by Suzi Feay
Confessions: A Life of Failed promises
Bodleian: Divinity School 6:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Orlando Figes
The Story of Russia CANCELLED
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Christopher French and Deborah Hyde Chaired by Stephen Law
Oxford Debate. Haunted: Investigating the Paranormal
Oxford Martin School: Lecture Theatre 6:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Cristina Dondi Introduced by Henry Woudhuysen
Lincoln Lecture. The 15th-century Printing Revolution in Europe: Myths and Realities
Lincoln College: Oakeshott Room 6:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event -
Mary Berry Interviewed by James Naughtie
Felicity Bryan Tribute Conversation: Cook and Share
Sheldonian Theatre 6:00pm Tue 28 Tuesday, 28 March 2023 See this event
