Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Explore two books that mark birth of modern horror. In reading and discussing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), examining their enduring themes of creation and responsibility, monstrosity and otherness, science and superstition, sexuality, and the revolutionary and imperial anxieties of their respective eras. Examine the lives and careers of the true writers and how they came up with these stories that have endured in so many variations. Both writers use frame tales and indirect narration to draw us into their mesh, thus making an exploration of the care of these stories also an analysis of literary devices. Consider how these classics continue to shape literature, film, and contemporary debates about technology and humanity.