Annual London Lecture: ‘A Daedalus for the Romantic Era? Mary Shelley’s 'Frankenstein’

Both Frankenstein and the Daedalus myth address our fear of the exceptional individual who abuses his talents by overreaching: the maker who doesn’t know when to stop. Both create capacious archetypes, with plenty of space to explore ambivalence and even admiration alongside that fear. But Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein takes us considerably further than the composite Daedalus story in a number of directions: political, ethical, existential and scientific. All seem particularly pertinent to British Romantic experience of society and the self. But is it a paradox that this apparently universalisable myth could only have been written in its own time and place? Professor Fiona Sampson, author of In Search of Mary Shelley, considers this fascinating question in our annual London lecture. Chancellor’s Hall, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU; free
Admission
Free.

Website
https://wordsworth.org.uk/events/annual-london-lecture-a-daedalus-for-the-romantic-era-mary-shelleys-frankenstein/

Source: https://www.culture24.org.uk/#EVENT592767