The term has begun for CSUF and I have met, for the first time, the final classes, my Romanticism and Horror students, who will help finish the building of the Frankenstein Meme Database online. They will complete more than two years worth of work by many of my students. They will read the final works and do the last bits of research and writing to complete what will be 350-400 individual entries exploring the influence of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein over 200 years . They will do the final edits and/or write the final content, which also includes write ups of interesting matters related to Shelley’s influence, particularly here at CSUF, that come out of the database, links to others preparing to celebrate the bicentennial year, interviews with some amazing writers who wrote award-wining works influenced by Frankenstein, student essays in our Frankenstein Meme Journal, and student work in our first Frankenzine.
We will be done before Halloween for the opening of the Frankenstein Meme Exhibit in the Atrium Gallery in the Pollak Library on campus. The exhibit is a collaboration between Patrica Prestinary, Special Collections Librarian, Cliff Cramp, Art Professor, and myself. The opening is planned for Saturday, October 27th, and will include artifacts from our spectacular sf Special Collections holdings, Patrica Prestinary, our designers, and I will guide my students in preparing the gallery, selecting materials, and setting up the exhibit; art, curated by Cliff Cramp, from his students, his colleagues, and himself, responding to both Frankenstein and other works from the database, will be hung on the walls. Other related mini-exhibits, talks, and other special events will all be forthcoming.
Our events will close as we join the international Frankenreads with a reading aloud of Frankenstein In the Pollak Library on Haloween, an event being done by many other Universities and other institutions to celebrate Mary Shelley’s achievement.
Our site is up for you to see, though it is unfinished. As we declare sections done, I will be blogging my way through to Halloween, unpacking the site, what you can find, and upcoming events. I will highlight who has supported our work and what things you might want to go see. Follow along!