By BOB GUSTIN, for The Democrat
A 200-year-old horror classic will be brought to life next month as Brown County digs into “Frankenstein,” this year’s selection for the community book read.
The sixth annual Brown County Reads program is cosponsored by the Brown County Public Library and the Brown County Literacy Coalition. Each year, a book is selected and dozens of copies are available for checkout. Library Director Story Snyder said the library has 50 copies of “Frankenstein” to borrow, along with half a dozen graphic novels and more than a dozen movies.
Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel tells the story of a scientific experiment by Dr. Victor Frankenstein aimed at using “parts” to create a living human being. The experiment goes horribly wrong.
The book, written when Shelley was still a teenager, has inspired many books, movies and other works of art. It is sometimes cited as the first science fiction story.
Snyder said the book was selected in part because this is the 200th anniversary of the book’s publication but also because the program has had neither a classic nor a horror story, and because the Indiana Humanities group was organizing a statewide read of it.
She said readers who know the Frankenstein creature only by the image portrayed by Boris Karloff in the 1931 movie may be shocked by the differences in the book.
Six additional events are planned, all at the library, 205 Locust Lane:
- A lecture by IUPUC post-doctoral anthropology researcher Dr. Fiona McDonald on “Crimes Against Humanity?” at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 12. McDonald said she will put Dr. Victor Frankenstein on trial and pose the question of whether creating life out of matter is a crime. Six characters will be presented as witnesses and audience members will act as jurors as science and morality questions are pondered from 1818 and today, along with the evolution of science. She said the lecture will be “quite playful,” and notes that the creature will not be on trial, and Dr. Frankenstein will not be held responsible for the actions of the creature.
- The family movie “Frankenweenie,” 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 13. This animated film is a comedy-fantasy story directed by Tim Burton.
- Two public book discussions, 2 to 3 p.m. and 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 18.
- “FrankenTeens,” a hands-on toy creation activity led by children’s and teens’ librarian Emmy Champion, 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 25.
- “Family Frankenscience and Craft,” 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 28, a hands-on creation activity for the whole family.
The book read this year is presented as part of the Indiana Humanities One State/One Story: Frankenstein program, which has support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with the Indiana State Library and the Indiana Center for the Book. Columbus, Franklin and Seymour are among the 62 participating communities. Brown County received a $1,000 grant from the state program, to be used for speaker fees, supplies, marketing and snacks during the programs.
Why Frankenstein?
McDonald said she has read the novel every year for the past 19 years and “every time I read it, it’s like reading it anew.
“It’s a poignant text everyone in the state can engage with,” she said. “Society has a need for a ‘grotesque other,’ and there is a real craft and beauty involved in creating it.”
“The book raises big questions about the practice of science and its role in society,” the Indiana Humanities organization states on its website. “Questions about right and wrong, how we understand ourselves in relation to the world around us, and how we live in the world are questions we all deal with every day. Yet these are not just personal questions; they are social questions. How we answer them affects our society more broadly by framing our political decisions and choices and by influencing policies around the globe.
“This is especially true when it comes to exploring the relationship between science and society — a relationship that was as fraught with questions in Mary Shelley’s lifetime as it is today.”
Previous books selected for Brown County Reads include “Home to Harmony” by Philip Gulley, “Ashfall” by Michael Mullin, “Wilderness Plots” by Scott Russell Sanders, “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White and “Positive” by Paige Rawl.
