Frankenstein to be brought to life at University

Dr Katie Garner of the School of English will bring Frankenstein to life tonight (Tuesday 31 October) at a special Halloween event at the University of St Andrews.

The lecturer will join fellow staff and students in reading excerpts from Mary Shelley’s famous horror story in the atmospheric cloisters of St Salvator’s Quad at 8pm.

Special lighting will add to the gothic mood of the torch-lit event, with attendees dressing in black or Halloween costume to hear the dark tale of a scientist bringing new life to body parts to create a “monster”.

The excerpts will be taken from the original 1818 edition, a rare copy of which is held by the University’s Special Collections department. Next year marks the bicentennial of publication of Shelley’s novel, which has become an icon of the horror genre, with numerous depictions on film and television.

Regarded as the world’s first science fiction novel, Shelley’s story was sparked when she and her future husband, the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, urged each other to write their own ghost stories during the stormy summer of 1816 while staying on the shores of Lake Geneva with Lord Byron.

Nearly two hundred years later Frankenstein; or the modern Prometheus, to give the book its full title, continues to enthral and appal millions of delighted readers.

Image caption: Dr Katie Garner rehearsing in the Quad with a paperback version of Frankenstein.

Issued by the University of St Andrews Communications Office. Contact Steve Bargeton on 01334 462530/07802 376 860 or [email protected].