Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," a classic of world literature about a scientist whose experiments to create a human being unleash a monster, will be required reading for Michigan State University freshmen this fall. The novel is also the centerpiece of the second annual "One Book, One Community" program sponsored by the university's Office of the Provost and the City of East Lansing.
The program gets under way on Sunday, Aug. 24, with two weeks of special events for new students. A community kick-off gala will take place the week of Sept. 7. A full slate of campus and community programming for all students and residents, including reading groups, panel discussions, seminars, lectures, special dinners and a film series, will run through Oct. 3. The novel also will be used in selected courses at MSU and East Lansing High School.
A complete schedule of events will be available at www.onebook.msu.edu beginning Aug. 1.
The annual "One Book, One Community" program encourages members of the MSU and East Lansing community to read the same book over the same period of time and to come together to discuss it in a variety of settings. Although dozens of similar programs have been sponsored nationwide, this is one of the very few that brings together a city and a university.
This fall will be the first time the university has required a substantial pre-academic year reading for all incoming students, says June Youatt, assistant provost for undergraduate education at MSU.
"Of the many experiences that students encounter at Michigan State, one of the most important is the sometimes unsettling one of learning to think in new ways about difficult and controversial subjects," she says.
"The 'One Book' program is intended to build an intellectual and social rapport among students, faculty, staff and community members through the collective experience of reading, thinking and discussing a challenging text that raises important social issues."
Part of the appeal of the book for first-year students will be the fact that Shelley wrote the novel when she was their age - just 18. Another similarity: early in the novel, the protagonist leaves home for college. A significant portion of the plot revolves around Victor Frankenstein's years as a science student at a German university, where he acquires the knowledge that will ultimately determine his destiny.
Copies of the novel will be made available to more than 6,500 incoming freshmen at their summer academic orientation programs. They will be asked to read it before they arrive on campus in August, when they will participate in discussions and a variety of other planned activities. Other students, faculty, staff and community members will be able to borrow the book from the East Lansing Public Library or purchase it at a discount from area bookstores.
"Frankenstein" was selected by a group representing the MSU Office of the Provost, the MSU College of Arts and Letters, the MSU Office of the Vice President for Governmental Affairs, the City of East Lansing and the East Lansing Public Library. The group met several times over a two-month period to review possible titles.
Among the criteria used in making the selection were:
- a work by a major author;
- the cultural resonance of the book within American culture;
- a moral or humanistic vision;
- a strong plot and well-developed characters;
- a reading level appropriate for high school and college students, as well as community residents;
- availability of the book in multiple formats (such as tape or CD);
- availability of book online;
- availability of film or play versions of the book.
"In addition to meeting every one of these criteria, 'Frankenstein' is a novel that invites reflection on a number of issues in the sciences, social sciences and humanities - from concerns about the morality of cloning and other biotechnologies to questions about the nature of creativity, human relationships and life itself," says Sylvia Marabate, director of the East Lansing Public Library.
Shelley (1797-1851) was initially better known for her lineage than for her literary accomplishments. She was the daughter of early feminist thinker Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," and anarchist philosopher William Godwin. She married Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the leading poets of the age. In 1816, while visiting Geneva, Switzerland, with her husband, she was challenged to write a ghost story by the Romantic poet Lord Byron. "Frankenstein," the novel that resulted from that challenge, was first published in 1818.