Frankenstein : penetrating the secrets of nature : an exhibition by the National Library of Medicine / visiting curator, Susan E. Lederer ; exhibition director, Elizabeth Fee ; head, exhibition program, Patricia Tuohy.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lederer, Susan E.

Fee, Elizabeth.

Tuohy, Patricia.

National Library of Medicine (U.S.). History of Medicine Division

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein--Exhibitions.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft.

Frankenstein (Fictitious character)--Exhibitions.

Frankenstein (Fictitious character).

Medical ethics--Exhibitions.

Medical ethics.

Genre:

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

ix, 78 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, [2002]

Summary:

As science penetrates the secrets of nature, with each discovery generating new questions, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein will sound its note of warning. Many scientific developments have provoked references to Frankenstein, a story that, for nearly two centuries, has gripped our imaginations and haunted our nightmares. How can society balance the benefits of medical discoveries against the ethical or spiritual questions posed? Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature accompanies a traveling exhibit of the same name. This lavishly illustrated volume begins by highlighting Shelley's novel and the context in which she conceived it. It next focuses on the redefinition of the Frankenstein myth in popular culture. Here, the fate of the monster becomes a moral lesson illustrating the punishment for ambitious scientists who seek to usurp the place of God by creating life. The final section examines the continuing power of the Frankenstein story to articulate present-day concerns raised by new developments in biomedicine such as cloning and xenografting (the use of animal organs in human bodies), and the role scientists and citizens play in determining acceptable limits of scientific and medical advances. Susan E. Lederer, who was the visiting curator for the National Library of Medicine's original exhibit on Frankenstein, is the author of Subjected to Science: Human Experimentation in America before the Second World War. She is an associate professor of the history of medicine at Yale University

Contents:

The Birth of Frankenstein 3

The Celluloid Monster 31

Promise and Peril 53.

Notes:

"Published in conjunction with the exhibition Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature, organized by the History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine"--t.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 66-74).

ISBN:

0813532000

OCLC:

50688470