Frankenstein Bicentennial Celebration 2018

Organizers

Dr. Katherine D. Harris, Associate Professor, English & Digital Humanities, San Jose State University (Official SJSU website)

Jonathan Gill, Event Planner, San Jose State University (Summer-Fall 2018)

Natalie Garcia, Project Manager, San Jose State University (Spring 2018)

Special thanks to Dr. Shannon Miller, Dean, College of Humanities & the Arts, San Jose State University

Dr. Kirstyn Leuner, Assistant Professor, English & Digital Humanities, Santa Clara University

Dr. Omar F. Miranda, Assistant Professor, English, University of San Francisco

2018 is an important year in the literary world. It marks the 200th anniversary of the publishing of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. This work is an astonishingly timely narrative that explores fundamental questions about the limits of science, the ethics embedded within pushing forward with new technologies, and the relationship between and danger of trying to control the natural world. It also has an immense legacy in film and other forms. Additionally, while Mary Shelley is not the first English woman to publish, she is one of the most lauded women writers of the early 19th century.

The importance of this written masterpiece for San Jose – home to Silicon Valley – and San Jose State University is also obvious. During 2018, the university and its regional partners, Santa Clara University and University of San Francisco, will host The Frankenstein Bicentennial. The novel brings together STEM fields with Humanities & the Arts at San Jose State and partner university campuses in such a way to engage almost every discipline and major. The project’s events will address timely issues of our world in Silicon Valley and the advent of technology – a critical topic with questions important to our academic, regional and world communities. The novel, because it has been so popular for 200 years, lives on in discussions about what it means to be human in a digital world.

Follow San Jose State University, Santa Clara University, and University of San Francisco, in a year long celebration of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, in its bicentennial year. Local events around Silicon Valley, as well as at each campus, will highlight the cultural significance of this text in disciplines beyond English Literature. Engage with us as we examine this text alongside innovations taking place today in artificial intelligence, ethics, and much more.

frankenstein