Frankenstein and Its Classics i Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception presents scholarly monographs off ering new and innovative research and debate to students and scholars in the reception of Classical Studies. Each volume will explore the appropriation, reconceptualization and recontextualization of various aspects of the Graeco- Roman world and its culture, looking at the impact of the ancient world on modernity. Research will also cover reception within antiquity, the theory and practice of translation, and reception theory. Also available in the Series: Ancient Magic and the Supernatural in the Modern Visual and Performing Arts, edited by Filippo Carl à and Irene Berti Ancient Greek Myth in World Fiction since 1989, edited by Justine McConnell and Edith Hall Th e Codex Fori Mussolini, Han Lamers and Bettina Reitz-Joosse Th e Gentle, Jealous God , Simon Perris Greek and Roman Classics in the British Struggle for Social Reform, edited by Henry Stead and Edith Hall Imagining Xerxes, Emma Bridges Ovid’s Myth of Pygmalion on Screen, Paula James Victorian Classical Burlesques, Laura Monr ó s-Gaspar Julius Caesar’s Self-Created Image and Its Dramatic Aft erlife , Miryana Dimitrova Homer’s Iliad and the Trojan War , Naoise Mac Sweeney and Jan Haywood ii Frankenstein and Its Classics Th e Modern Prometheus from Antiquity to Science Fiction Edited by Jesse Weiner, Benjamin Eldon Stevens, and Brett M. Rogers iii BLOOMSBURY A CADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC 1B 3 DP , UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2018 Copyright © Jesse Weiner, Benjamin Eldon Stevens, and Brett M. Rogers, 2018 Jesse Weiner, Benjamin Eldon Stevens, and Brett M. Rogers have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Editors of this work. For legal purposes the Preface on pp. vii–ix constitutes an extension of this copyright page. Cover illustration by Christian Ward from ODY-C © 2014 Milkfed Criminal Masterminds, Inc. & Christian Ward All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Weiner, Jesse, editor. | Stevens, Benjamin Eldon, editor. | Rogers, Brett M., editor. Title: Frankenstein and its classics : the modern Prometheus from antiquity to science fi ction / edited by Jesse Weiner, Benjamin Eldon Stevens and Brett M. Rogers. Other titles: Bloomsbury studies in classical reception. Description: London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. | Series: Bloomsbury studies in classical reception | Includes index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2017056915| ISBN 9781350054875 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781350054882 (hardback) Subjects: LCSH: Science fi ction—Classical infl uences. | Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797–1851. Frankenstein. | Frankenstein's Monster (Fictitious character) | Frankenstein, Victor (Fictitious character) | Prometheus (Greek deity)—In literature. | Frankenstein fi lms. Classifi cation: LCC PN3433.6 .F68 2018 | DDC 809.3/8762—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017056915 ISBN : HB : 978-1-3500-5488-2 PB : 978-1-3500-5487-5 e PDF : 978-1-3500-5490-5 eBook: 978-1-3500-5489-9 Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception Typeset by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk To fi nd out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters . iv Contents Preface vii List of Contributors x List of Illustrations xiii Introduction: Th e Modern Prometheus Turns 200 Jesse Weiner, Benjamin Eldon Stevens, and Brett M. Rogers 1 Part One Promethean Heat 1 Patchwork Paratexts and Monstrous Metapoetics: “Aft er tea M reads Ovid” G enevieve Liveley 25 2 Prometheus and Dr. Darwin’s Vermicelli: Another Stir to the Frankenstein Broth M artin Priestman 42 3 Th e Politics of Revivifi cation in Lucan’s B ellum Civile and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Andrew M. McClellan 59 4 Romantic Prometheis and the Molding of F rankenstein Suzanne L. Barnett 76 5 Why the ‘Year without a Summer’? D avid A. Gapp 91 6 Th e Sublime Monster: F rankenstein , or Th e Modern Pandora Matthew Gumpert 102 Part Two Hideous Progeny 7 Cupid and Psyche in F rankenstein : Mary Shelley’s Apuleian Science Fiction? Benjamin Eldon Stevens 123 8 Th e Pale Student of Unhallowed Arts: Frankenstein, Aristotle, and the Wisdom of Lucretius Carl A. Rubino 145 9 Timothy Leary and the Psychodynamics of Stealing Fire Neşe Devenot 153 v vi Contents 10 Frankenfi lm: Classical Monstrosity in Bill Morrison’s S park of Being Jesse Weiner 170 11 Alex Garland’s E x Machina or Th e Modern Epimetheus Emma Hammond 190 12 Th e Postmodern Prometheus and Posthuman Reproductions in Science Fiction B rett M. Rogers 206 Other Modern Prometheis: Suggestions for Further Reading and Viewing S amuel Cooper 228 Bibliography 238 Index 267 Preface In his then- anonymous preface to the fi rst edition of Frankenstein (1818), Mary Shelley’s husband, Percy, writes about the story’s beginnings some eighteen months earlier “in casual conversation” among Mary, Byron, himself, and others; this conversation took place “in the majestic region” of Switzerland’s Lake Geneva, and in a “season” that was “cold and rainy.” Th e present volume, too, began in casual conversation, and if the region was arguably less majestic—a Philadelphia department- store Starbucks—the weather was suitably gloomy. On that “wet, uncongenial” January aft ernoon, during a break from paper sessions at the annual meeting of the erstwhile American Philological Association, we set our own “ghost story challenge”: to develop a collection of essays about classical antiquity and modern monsters. We are excited to see that project come to fruition and, like Mary Shelley in her preface to Frankenstein ’s third edition (1831), we hope our own “hideous progeny” will “prosper.” “[T]he accomplishment of [our] toils,” F rankenstein and Its Classics: Th e Modern Prometheus from Antiquity to Science Fiction , is the fi rst collection devoted to classical receptions in Frankenstein and its traditions. Many of the essays found their own fi rst “spark of being” at an international symposium, “Th e Modern Prometheus; or, Frankenstein ,” held in April 2016 at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY , USA . Th ere was a charge in the air as the participants gathered not long before the two- hundredth anniversary of the novel’s conception—a charge increased by other coincidences, including the conference overlapping with the two- hundred-and- fi rst anniversary of the eruption of Tambora; a late snowfall that conjured the ‘Year without a Summer’; and a location not far from a town called, of all things, Geneva. Such historical and geographical coincidences aside, it was clear then that the subject- matter remains of great interest. Two hundred years aft er its fi rst publication, Frankenstein continues to captivate audiences, to inform conversations about technological development and scientifi c ethics, to inspire futuristic art—and, perhaps surprisingly, to encourage refl ection on classical antiquity. As the conference organizers and now this volume’s editors, we are excited to be able to usher these essays into print here. Some are drawn from that symposium, while others were received in response to a subsequent call for papers. Th ey range in scope from ancient myth and philosophy to Romantic vii viii Preface neoclassicism to contemporary fi lm and the psychedelic experiments of Timothy Leary. All together they off er an invitation—for readers of F rankenstein and the traditions it has inspired, for viewers of the many fi lm versions and adaptations, for scholars and students of Romanticism, Classics, and classical receptions, and for others still—to explore some of the ancient roots of Mary Shelley’s paradigmatic ‘modern’ monster. Over the several years from that fi rst conversation to the appearance of this volume, many people have played important roles in bringing Frankenstein and Its Classics to life. We editors wish to thank, above all, the contributors for sharing their insightful work and for allowing us to publish it here. Special thanks go to the team at Bloomsbury, including Alice Wright, Senior Commissioning Editor for Classical Studies and Archaeology; Clara Herberg, Senior Editorial Assistant, and Emma Payne, Editorial Assistant, for the same. We are also grateful to Hamilton College’s Winslow Lecture Fund in Classics and to the NY 6 Th ink Tank for supporting the conference that preceded this volume. Weiner would like to thank his colleagues at Hamilton College—Anne Feltovich, Barbara Gold, Shelley Haley, Nancy Rabinowitz, and Carl Rubino—for their support throughout this project, especially during conference planning. Th anks are also due to the brilliant students in his courses at Hamilton on science fi ction and the classics (spring and fall 2016) for their thoughts on Frankenstein and its classics. Special thanks are due to Julie for her steadfast love, support, and wisdom; and to co- editors and partners in k atabasis , Ben and Brett, perfect comrades in escape from a Montr é al cemetery. Stevens would like to thank the students in his courses on classical traditions and science fi ction at Bryn Mawr College (spring 2015) and Trinity University (spring 2017) for truly galvanizing discussions of F rankenstein . Trinity’s Department of Classical Studies was enthusiastic in its support throughout, and two summer research students, Mellon fellow Ariana Fletcher-Bai and Murchison fellow Isaiah Mitchell (both Trinity ‘20), were inspiring interlocutors while the project neared completion. Special thanks are due to Jesse and Brett, alchemical co- editors and sublime companions on travels international as well as intellectual. Rogers would like to thank the students in his courses on classical receptions and science fi ction at the University of Puget Sound (spring 2015 and fall 2017) for their electrifying ideas about F rankenstein and Prometheus , as well as the Department of Classics for patiently tolerating such fevered madness. Special thanks are due to Jennifer and Elinor, who remained stalwart at Chamounix during his many Frankenstein- related journeys; and to Jesse and Ben, who Preface ix worked tirelessly to fi nd the best, most lustrous parts in our editorial charnel house. “[Our] travels were long and the suff erings [we] endured intense”: may we never drink Frankenwine again.