Frankenstein in Theory: A Critical Anatomy

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This collection provides new readings of Frankenstein from a myriad of established and burgeoning theoretical vantages including narrative theory, cognitive and affect theory, the new materialism, media theory, critical race theory, queer and gender studies, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, and others. Demonstrating how the literary power of Frankenstein rests on its ability to theorize questions of mind, self, language, matter, and the socio-historic that also drive these critical approaches, this volume illustrates the ongoing intellectual richness found both in Mary Shelleys work and contemporary ways of thinking about it.

Reviews

A sense of urgency runs through all these essays, persuading us that Frankenstein and his monster matter now. Its not just that present crises help us think anew about Shelleys novel, or that it continually challenges the theories we employ. This provocative collection makes the case that Frankenstein compels us to think rigorously about our historical present. * Mary A. Favret, Professor of English and Vice Dean for Graduate Education, Johns Hopkins University, USA, and author of War at a Distance: Romanticism and the Making of Modern Wartime (2009) *
A superb collection of essays, which reanimates not only this masterpiece of Romantic writing but also the theoretical debates that have shaped Romantic criticism for decades. In keeping with its subject, this is a daring, creative, and provocative contribution to Shelley scholarship. * Timothy Michael, Associate Professor of English and Fellow, Lincoln College, University of Oxford, UK, and author of British Romanticism and the Critique of Political Reason (2016) *
This groundbreaking volume gathers together the best and most timely scholarship on Mary Shelleys timeless masterpiece. The theoretical perspectives are wonderfully diverseincluding monster theory, ecocriticism, corporeality studies, trans studies, with many permutations and cross-pollinations in between. This will be an essential text for teaching Frankenstein for educators going forward. Frankly, this volume is alive! * Daniel DeWispelare, Associate Professor of English, George Washington University, USA, and author of Multilingual Subjects: Standard English, Its Speakers, and Others in the Long Eighteenth Century (2017) *

Author Bio

Orrin N. C. Wang teaches English and Comparative Literature at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA. He is the author of Fantastic Modernity: Dialectical Readings in Romanticism and Theory (1996) and Romantic Sobriety: Sensation, Revolution, Commodification, History, winner of the 2011 Jean-Pierre Barricelli Prize.