CFP Reimagining Frankenstein in the 21st Century: Cross-Cultural Adaptations in Visual Culture (12/1/2025)

Please note, this call has educational and employment restrictions for applicants.

REIMAGINING FRANKENSTEIN IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Cross-Cultural Adaptations in Visual Culture

deadline for submissions:
December 1, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Cenk Tan and Defne Ersin Tutan

contact email:
adaptingfrankenstein@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/10/01/reimagining-frankenstein-in-the-21st-century-cross-cultural-adaptations-in-visual

CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS

REIMAGINING FRANKENSTEIN IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Cross-Cultural Adaptations in Visual Culture

Edited by Cenk Tan & Defne Ersin Tutan

Editors’ Introduction

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus (1818) has endured for over two centuries as one of the most mutable and culturally vibrant texts, continually reinvented through shifting global anxieties and paradigms. Despite transcending its original historical and cultural context, Shelley’s narrative has been utilized to mirror contemporary fears and concerns, thereby keeping its initial core. Whether it be fears of technological overreach, social alienation, and the ethical boundaries of human ambition, or concerns over science, identity, and power in the broader sense, Frankenstein still retains its global allure and timeless appeal, owing significantly to its adaptations on screen and on television.

Grounded in innumerable and invaluable novel-to-film analyses, Adaptation Studies has recently expanded its boundaries in innovational directions, and, as Sarah Cardwell contends, “[j]ust as adaptations have moved away from their source books, so too must the approach through which we consider them. […] [N]ovel-adaptation comparison is an inadequate starting point for the interpretation, analysis and evaluation of individual adaptations” (205-206). In line with this perspective, contemporary scholarship addresses adaptations as rewritings, appropriations, modernizations and/or localizations that shed light not necessarily on the source texts they adapt but on “the circumstances of their creation” (Murray 5). Viewed in this manner, adaptations of Frankenstein do more than retell a familiar story—they refract Shelley’s foundational questions through local narrative traditions, demonstrating the text’s remarkable adaptability to different cultural contexts and crises.

In this framework, this edited volume sets out to examine how 21st-century films and television series adapt Frankenstein across diverse cultural contexts—from Hollywood blockbusters to local cinema traditions—to reanimate Shelley’s core themes for modern audiences. Through case studies spanning Guillermo Del Toro’s anticipated Gothic reimagining, German refractions, South Korean thrillers, and beyond, the volume aims to reveal how the Frankenstein lore speaks to urgent contemporary concerns. By doing so, it also aspires to formulate theoretical stances on localization.

As such, the chapters are expected to demonstrate an argumentative framework and move beyond the mere “from the page to the screen” approach of comparing the two; instead, moving from the case study to possible “theorizing,” the argument is to look forward to designing an approach through which localized adaptations contribute to Adaptation Studies in the broader spectrum. Therefore, informative/descriptive studies will not be considered.

To elaborate, each chapter is expected to be solidly grounded in a theoretical argument through which it would address the dynamics of adaptation in the localizing process. It may strive to answer questions such as: how does the source text get appropriated in its new national, social and historical context? How does it (or is made to) appeal to a foreign audience (i.e. to one that is different from the source text’s original audience)? Is the source text appropriated in line with the local necessities of production or with the assumed expectations of the society and/or the audience? Is the end-product recognized as an adaptation or claimed to be “native”? [One should bear in mind Thomas Leitch’s remarkable question: “If an audience overlooks the intertextual allusion of a specific adaptation, does it still qualify as an adaptation?” (95).] Is the localized version merely a commercial product, a commodity, or a political/social/cultural “statement”? Does it actually keep any of its genuine literary and/or artistic merits or is it incorporated into popular culture? As such, the chapters would contribute to the ongoing debates on localization as a fashionable contemporary form of adaptation, as well as the theory of adaptation at large.

Works Cited

Cardwell, Sarah. Adaptation Revisited: Television and the Classic Novel. Manchester UP, 2002.

Leitch, Thomas. “Adaptation and Intertextuality, or, What isn’t an Adaptation, What Does It Matter?” A Companion to Literature, Film, and Adaptation. Ed. Deborah Cartmell. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. pp: 87-104.

Murray, Simone. The Adaptation Industry: The Cultural Economy of Contemporary Literary Adaptation. Routledge, 2012.



Each chapter should strictly abide by the word limit of 5000, including the endnotes, and the works cited. Endnotes should be preferred over footnotes. The body of the work should be organized under section titles where appropriate (such as Introduction, Theoretical Argument, Case Study, Conclusion, and the like). The chapters should follow the MLA 9th edition formatting.

Only contributors who hold PhD degrees and have institutional affiliations will be considered.

The book is under consideration by a major international publisher, which will be announced at a later date.

The proposed chapters have been outlined. Prospective contributors could make a selection from the outline, but they are also welcome to propose works not listed, should they fall within the scope of the volume. The criteria for consideration are threefold: 1. adaptations for the screen or for the TV, 2. adaptations pertaining to the 21st century, and 3. adaptations produced outside of the UK.

Contributors are expected to send an abstract of 300 words and a short biographical note of 150 words (written in the 3rd person) by the submission deadline.

For all inquiries and submissions, please contact: adaptingfrankenstein@gmail.com



Schedule

Deadline for Abstract Submission: December 1, 2025

Notification of Acceptance: December 31, 2025

Deadline for Chapter Submission: March 1, 2026

Anticipated Publication Date: Summer 2026



Provisional Outline

Preface

Introduction: “Reimagining Frankenstein on Screen and on Television”

USA: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)

Blending science-fiction and horror, reversing/resisting stereotypes.

USA: Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein (Nov. 2025)

Blending folklore, horror, and humanism, rewriting monstrosity.

USA: The Bride (Mar. 2026)

Reimagining gender, agency, and monstrosity.

German Refractions

Post-WWII memory, horror, and monstrous embodiment.

Hungarian Perspectives
Cultural reinterpretations of the myth.
South Korean Adaptations

Ethical dilemmas of biotechnology and societal anxieties.

Canadian Reconsideration: Dead Lover (2025)
Revisiting horror traditions through a modern lens.
Spanish Postmodernism

Fragmented narratives and existential dread in the contemporary context.

Nordic / Dutch Representations

Blending folklore and bioethics through cinematic interpretations.

Mexican Horror
Gender, monstrosity, and social marginalization in horror.
South American Gothic

Exploring racial and environmental tensions through a Frankenstein-inspired narrative.

New Zealand Horror: Marama (2025)
Representing Maori Gothic fiction.
Japanese Cyber-Gothic

Technology, identity, and the body through animation.

Australian Adaptations

Interpreting indigenous perspectives and ecological themes.

Turkish Adaptation

Frankenstein as metaphor for social alienation and modernization.

Eastern European Gothic

Post-Soviet cultural anxieties and the legacy of scientific hubris.
Czech Speculative Fiction: Ghoul (2015)

Reimagining the monster through speculative fiction.

Chinese Adaptation

Reimagining creation and consciousness.

Russian Adaptation

Modernity and the ethics of creation in Post-Soviet Russia.



For all inquiries and submissions, please contact: adaptingfrankenstein@gmail.com


Last updated October 19, 2025

UPDATE Frankensteinian Resonance: Transtemporal Reanimations in Fiction, Film, and Video (11/30/2025)

Updated CFP. Please note, this call has educational restrictions for applicants.

FRANKENSTEINIAN RESONANCE: Transtemporal Reanimations in Fiction, Film, and Video

deadline for submissions:
November 30, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Assoc. Prof. Ela İpek Gündüz, Gaziantep University, Turkey & Dr. Ercan Gürova, Ankara University, Turkey

contact email:
frankensteinianresonance@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/07/29/frankensteinian-resonance-transtemporal-reanimations-in-fiction-film-and-video

Call for Book Chapters

Frankensteinian Resonance: Transtemporal Reanimations in Fiction, Film, and Video

“Under Strong Interest” by Palgrave Macmillan

Editors’ Introduction

Considering the still resonating waves of Mary Shelley’s timeless novel Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus (1818), due to its conveying the notions, issues, and messages which are both relevant to current times, and as a reflection of its own time, ‘Frankenstein’ continues to be a very appealing trope, phenomenon or myth. The very idea of “humaneness” is speculated continuously due to the embeddedness of the “Frankenstein” the creator, the monster, and the novel itself, including its writer, within the literary and cultural landscape. It is an undeniable fact that it has been perpetually remembered and reinvented due to its uniqueness, even in the 21st century, prompting producers to adapt it. Yet, how it affects, appeals to, finds correspondences with, and elicits reactions or appreciations may be varied. Nevertheless, regardless of this differentiation in both the re-handlings and/or remembering, as well as the responses, the very speciality of the text remains visible. Notwithstanding the conventions of the genres or the adaptation mediums, as a very special text, Frankenstein transgresses the socio-cultural and even spatio-temporal boundaries that pave the way for the appreciation of contemporary readers and/or audiences.

The proposed edited volume, Frankensteineian Resonance: Transtemporal Reanimations in Fiction, Film, and Video, seeks to provide a rigorous, interdisciplinary exploration of how the Frankenstein mythos continues to evolve, adapt, and resonate across contemporary media landscapes. The volume thus proposes Frankenstein as a transtextual and transtemporal entity, a metaphorical conduit through which trauma, memory, identity, and otherness are endlessly renegotiated. It examines how contemporary rewritings and adaptations, spanning various genres and platforms, reveal the persistence of Frankensteinian concerns with artificial life, the ethics of creation, and the blurred boundaries between human and nonhuman. By assembling approximately 20 original chapters that analyse iconic novels, films, video games, and theatrical adaptations through transtemporal lenses, this collection aims to contribute to Gothic studies, adaptation theory, science fiction criticism, and broader discussions on the posthuman condition. Contributions will be selected through an open international call targeting scholars in literature, film, and cultural studies with PhDs or equivalent credentials.

Each contributor will offer a close and original analysis of a novel, film, or media work that actively reimagines the Frankenstein myth. Rather than adopting a purely descriptive approach, each chapter will develop a coherent and critical argument, connecting the selected work to key interpretive frameworks, such as monstrosity, hybridity, technological creation, identity fragmentation, and moral ambiguity.

Contributors will be asked to choose a specific fictional or cinematic text and engage it through relevant theoretical and cultural lenses. While the exact titles and authors of the chapters will be finalised after the acceptance of proposals, all chapters will be unified by the volume’s overarching interest in Frankenstein as a resonant, reconfigurable myth that speaks to evolving human concerns.

Please choose one of the topics listed below as the focus of your chapter. Proposals should clearly identify the selected work (novel, film, or media) and your theoretical framework.



Part I - Literary Re-Visitations/ Rewritings

1-Frankenstein Unbound (1973) by Brian W. Aldiss

2-The Frankenstein Papers (1986) by Fred Saberhagen

3-Poor Things (1992) by Alasdair Gray [Accepted]

4-The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein (1995) by Theodore Roszak [Accepted]

5-The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2008) by Peter Ackroyd

6-Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013) by Ahmed Saadawi

7-Frankissstein: A Love Story (2019) by Jeanette Winterson[Accepted]

8-Heart of a Dog (1925) by Mikhail Bulgakov [Accepted]

9-Golem (1915) by Gustav Meyrink

10-The Sandman (1816) by E.T.A Hoffmann



Part II- Movie/ Theatre/Video Game Adaptations



1-Frankenstein (1931) & Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – Dir. James Whale

2-The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) – Dir. Terence Fisher [Accepted]

3-Young Frankenstein (1974) – Dir. Mel Brooks[Accepted]

4-Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) – Dir. Kenneth Branagh

5-Frankenstein (2004) – Dir. Marcus Nispel

6-Victor Frankenstein (2015) – Dir. Paul McGuigan [Accepted]

7-Frankenstein (2015) – Dir. Bernard Rose

8-The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015–2017) – ITV Series

9-Frankenstein (1981) – by Victor Gialanella

10-Frankenstein – Playing with Fire (1988) – by Barbara Field

11-Frankenstein (2007) – by Nick Dear, directed by Danny Boyle

12-Frankenstein (2017) a musical theatre adaptation by Eric B. Sirota

13-Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster (1995)

14-Frankenstein: Master of Death (2015)

15-Frankenstein: Beyond the Time (2016)

16-Frankenstein Wars (2017)

17-Poor Things (2023)



Submission Details and Timeline

Please send a 300–500 word abstract describing the proposed chapter’s theory/framework, contributions, and structure, and a brief bio (100–150 words) to frankensteinianresonance@gmail.com

The abstract submission deadline is November 30, 2025.

Submission of Complete Chapters (for selected abstracts): March 30, 2026.

Final chapters will be expected to be around 5500-6000 words, in English, and referenced in MLA 9 style.

The book is expected to be published in late 2026, following peer review and editorial revisions.

All submissions will undergo a rigorous double-blind peer-review process.

For inquiries and questions, please feel free to contact us at frankensteinianresonance@gmail.com



Editors: Assoc. Prof. Ela İpek Gündüz, Gaziantep University, Turkey

Dr. Ercan Gürova, Ankara University, Turkey



Last updated October 24, 2025

CFP Frankensteinian Resonance: Transtemporal Reanimations in Fiction, Film, and Video (11/30/2025)

Frankensteinian Resonance: Transtemporal Reanimations in Fiction, Film, and Video

deadline for submissions:
November 30, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Assoc. Prof. Ela İpek Gündüz, Gaziantep University, Turkey & Dr. Ercan Gürova, Ankara University, Turkey

contact email:
frankensteinianresonance@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/07/29/frankensteinian-resonance-transtemporal-reanimations-in-fiction-film-and-video

Call for Book Chapters

Frankensteinian Resonance: Transtemporal Reanimations in Fiction, Film, and Video

“Under Strong Interest” by McFarland’s Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy series

Editors’ Introduction

Considering the still resonating waves of Mary Shelley’s timeless novel Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus (1818), due to its conveying the notions, issues, and messages which are both relevant to current times, and as a reflection of its own time, ‘Frankenstein’ continues to be a very appealing trope, phenomenon or myth. The very idea of “humaneness” is speculated continuously due to the embeddedness of the “Frankenstein” the creator, the monster, and the novel itself, including its writer, within the literary and cultural landscape. It is an undeniable fact that it has been perpetually remembered and reinvented due to its uniqueness, even in the 21st century, prompting producers to adapt it. Yet, how it affects, appeals to, finds correspondences with, and elicits reactions or appreciations may be varied. Nevertheless, regardless of this differentiation in both the re-handlings and/or remembering, as well as the responses, the very speciality of the text remains visible. Notwithstanding the conventions of the genres or the adaptation mediums, as a very special text, Frankenstein transgresses the socio-cultural and even spatio-temporal boundaries that pave the way for the appreciation of contemporary readers and/or audiences.

The proposed edited volume, Frankensteineian Resonance: Transtemporal Reanimations in Fiction, Film, and Video, seeks to provide a rigorous, interdisciplinary exploration of how the Frankenstein mythos continues to evolve, adapt, and resonate across contemporary media landscapes. The volume thus proposes Frankenstein as a transtextual and transtemporal entity, a metaphorical conduit through which trauma, memory, identity, and otherness are endlessly renegotiated. It examines how contemporary rewritings and adaptations, spanning various genres and platforms, reveal the persistence of Frankensteinian concerns with artificial life, the ethics of creation, and the blurred boundaries between human and nonhuman. By assembling approximately 20 original chapters that analyse iconic novels, films, video games, and theatrical adaptations through transtemporal lenses, this collection aims to contribute to Gothic studies, adaptation theory, science fiction criticism, and broader discussions on the posthuman condition. Contributions will be selected through an open international call targeting scholars in literature, film, and cultural studies with PhDs or equivalent credentials.

Each contributor will offer a close and original analysis of a novel, film, or media work that actively reimagines the Frankenstein myth. Rather than adopting a purely descriptive approach, each chapter will develop a coherent and critical argument, connecting the selected work to key interpretive frameworks, such as monstrosity, hybridity, technological creation, identity fragmentation, and moral ambiguity.

Contributors will be asked to choose a specific fictional or cinematic text and engage it through relevant theoretical and cultural lenses. While the exact titles and authors of the chapters will be finalised after the acceptance of proposals, all chapters will be unified by the volume’s overarching interest in Frankenstein as a resonant, reconfigurable myth that speaks to evolving human concerns.

Please choose one of the topics listed below as the focus of your chapter. Proposals should clearly identify the selected work (novel, film, or media) and your theoretical framework.



Part I - Literary Re-Visitations/ Rewritings

1-Frankenstein Unbound (1973) by Brian W. Aldiss

2-The Frankenstein Papers (1986) by Fred Saberhagen

3-Poor Things (1992) by Alasdair Gray

4-The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein (1995) by Theodore Roszak

5-The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2008) by Peter Ackroyd

6-Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013) by Ahmed Saadawi

7-Frankissstein: A Love Story (2019) by Jeanette Winterson

8-Heart of a Dog (1925) by Mikhail Bulgakov

9-Golem (1915) by Gustav Meyrink

10-The Sandman (1816) by E.T.A Hoffmann



Part II- Movie/ Theatre/Video Game Adaptations



1-Frankenstein (1931) & Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – Dir. James Whale

2-The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) – Dir. Terence Fisher

3-Young Frankenstein (1974) – Dir. Mel Brooks

4-Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) – Dir. Kenneth Branagh

5-Frankenstein (2004) – Dir. Marcus Nispel

6-Victor Frankenstein (2015) – Dir. Paul McGuigan

7-Frankenstein (2015) – Dir. Bernard Rose

8-The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015–2017) – ITV Series

9-Frankenstein (1981) – by Victor Gialanella

10-Frankenstein – Playing with Fire (1988) – by Barbara Field

11-Frankenstein (2007) – by Nick Dear, directed by Danny Boyle

12-Frankenstein (2017) a musical theatre adaptation by Eric B. Sirota

13-Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster (1995)

14-Frankenstein: Master of Death (2015)

15-Frankenstein: Beyond the Time (2016)

16-Frankenstein Wars (2017)

17-Poor Things (2023)



Submission Details and Timeline

Please send a 300–500 word abstract describing the proposed chapter’s theory/framework, contributions, and structure, and a brief bio (100–150 words) to frankensteinianresonance@gmail.com

The abstract submission deadline is November 30, 2025.

Submission of Complete Chapters (for selected abstracts): March 30, 2026.

Final chapters will be expected to be around 5500-6000 words, in English, and referenced in MLA 9 style.

The book is expected to be published in late 2026, following peer review and editorial revisions.

All submissions will undergo a rigorous double-blind peer-review process.

For inquiries and questions, please feel free to contact us at frankensteinianresonance@gmail.com



Editors: Assoc. Prof. Ela İpek Gündüz, Gaziantep University, Turkey

Dr. Ercan Gürova, Ankara University, Turkey



Last updated August 4, 2025

CFP Routledge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft: Wollstonecraft at Work (1/15/2026)

Routledge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft: Wollstonecraft at Work

deadline for submissions:
January 15, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Cynthia Richards and Shawn Lisa Maurer

contact email:
crichards@wittenberg.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/06/27/routledge-companion-to-mary-wollstonecraft-wollstonecraft-at-work


Routledge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft: Wollstonecraft at Work
Call for Papers

Mary Wollstonecraft’s contributions as a philosopher are uncontested, her reputation cemented by such recent publications as The Wollstonecraftian Mind (Routledge, 2019), the first collection on a woman philosopher to appear in the Routledge Philosophical Minds series. By contrast, her work as a writer remains unsettled. We know her work to be passionate: angry with Edmund Burke, she composed the Vindication of the Rights of Man in six weeks. She writes Letters Written During a Short Residence to an indifferent lover, the American businessman Gilbert Imlay, and through her romantically charged descriptions, wins the reluctant affections of the Enlightenment philosopher William Godwin instead. As this example makes manifest, if Wollstonecraft succeeds as a writer, it seemingly happens by accident, a byproduct of the fervor of her convictions. We grant her a place in the literary canon because her influence is undeniable and not because the quality of her production is uniform and unassailable.

This Routledge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft will challenge this reading by focusing on Wollstonecraft as a writer at work, a writer consciously and deliberately innovating to produce a rich and varied oeuvre that reveals forms of intellectual and professional labor beyond her better-known philosophical treatises and novels. Instead, this volume will make the case for Wollstonecraft as an artist first and a polemicist second, yet an artist whose creative interventions stayed true to her principles in the face of conservative backlash. In this regard, the volume comes closest to emulating The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft (2002) while building upon the more multidisciplinary Mary Wollstonecraft in Context (Cambridge 2020).

Yet even as the volume will argue for the intrinsic quality of her writing, it will also recognize that the work remains incomplete. The Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) had a planned second volume that was never realized; The Wrongs of Woman (1798) was published unfinished. Her primer to her young daughter, Fanny, has yet to be published as a stand-alone text. But her work also remains incomplete because it continues to exert such a powerful force more than two hundred years after her death. Although the feminist political implications of her work, which continues to be “constantly re-moulded in feminism’s changing image,” as Barbara Taylor writes, have been traced in multiple ways, the impact of her literary production and readers’ engagement with that multifaceted work, in the academy, in popular culture, and in the classroom, has yet to be fully explored.

We envision essays relating to three broad categories–Wollstonecraft at Work, Wollstonecraft in the World, and Wollstonecraft in the Classroom–and invite essays on all stages of Wollstonecraft’s career and all genres in which she worked. Possible topics might include Wollstonecraft as a working woman/professional writer/public intellectual; Wollstonecraft as an artistic innovator; Wollstonecraft’s growth and development; Wollstonecraft and visual culture; Wollstonecraft as an educator. We also seek essays that address Wollstonecraft’s historical as well as contemporary resonances in literary, artistic, and feminist political contexts across the globe. We encourage reflections on the productive imbrications of Wollstonecraft’s life and work; on her critical reception, her artistic legacies, and her place in popular culture. Finally, we invite essays on editing and teaching Wollstonecraft’s work. How is her influence felt throughout the world and how is her work taught in various regions and countries? How does she continue to educate us and our students?

We welcome preliminary proposals on these or related topics. Please send abstracts of approximately 250 words to both editors via email by January 15, 2026.

Shawn Lisa Maurer (College of the Holy Cross): smaurer@holycross.edu

Cynthia Richards (Wittenberg University): crichards@wittenberg.edu



Last updated July 3, 2025

CFP Mary Shelley Today: *Frankenstein* in the Twenty-First Century (2/1/2025)

Mary Shelley Today: *Frankenstein* in the Twenty-First Century

deadline for submissions:
February 1, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Timothy Ruppert and Danette DiMarco

contact email:
timothy.ruppert@sru.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/12/26/mary-shelley-today-frankenstein-in-the-twenty-first-century

Mary Shelley Today: Frankenstein in the Twenty-First Century seeks to reevaluate the influence of Mary Shelley, and particularly her most prominent novel, on literature and imaginative work of the last quarter century (defined as 1999-2024). This project engages with works and authors on whom little has been written to date in the hope of providing exciting new resources for Romanticists and general readers alike.

We seek contributions between 4,500-6,500 words. While we do not wish to delimit authors in terms of focus, we will give special preference to scholarship on undertreated works and writers, for example, Seanan McGuire’s Down Among the Sticks and Bones (2017), Theodora Goss’s The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017), Kiersten White’s The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein (2018), John Kessel’s Pride and Prometheus (2018), Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad (trans. 2018), and Jennifer McMahon’s The Children on the Hill (2022). We are also interested in reinterpretations of Frankenstein in other genres, including works such as the Japanese manga series Fullmetal Alchemist,cinematic products such as Larry Fessenden’s 2019 Depraved or the Doctor Who episode ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’ (2020), or stage plays such as Eric Sirota’s musical adaptation of Frankenstein (2017). Please note that we already have a chapter concerning Peter Lovesey’s 1999 novel, The Vault, and so will not accept submissions exclusively concerning that work.

Please submit a 500/1,000-word proposal along with your contact information and a biographical note (up to 200 words) to both co-editors by 1 February 2025. Further details on style and formatting will be provided to prospective contributors upon acceptance.

Accepted contributors should plan to submit complete book chapters (4,500/6,500 words, including references and footnotes) by 1 August 2025.

This volume is already under contract to a leading academic publisher, so the manuscript will likely go for peer review in late 2025. The projected publication date is 2026. Please contact both Danette DiMarco (danette.dimarco@sru.edu) and Timothy Ruppert (timothy.ruppert@sru.edu) with any questions.



Last updated January 2, 2025

CFP Hideous Progenies: Adulterous Adaptations of Frankenstein in the 21st-Century (7/1/2024)

Hideous Progenies: Adulterous Adaptations of Frankenstein in the 21st-Century

deadline for submissions: 

July 1, 2024

full name / name of organization: 

Kyle William Bishop

contact email: 

bishopk@suu.edu

source:https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/05/30/hideous-progenies-adulterous-adaptations-of-frankenstein-in-the-21st-century

With the commercial and critical success of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things (2023), I am assembling a collection of scholarly essays that will explore additional unfaithful 21st-century adaptations (in various media) of Mary Shelley’s 1818 masterpiece, Frankenstein. Taking a page from Thomas Leitch’s idea of the “Ethics of Infidelity,” I propose that investigating the longevity of Shelley’s essential story (the overreacher plot coupled with an animated or re-animated creature) as translated into a variety of “adulterous adaptations” would demonstrate how the plot, structure, character types, themes, etc. of Frankenstein transcend mere faithful adaptations to become increasingly relevant to different (modern) audiences.

My recent internet and database searches for “unfaithful adaptations of Frankenstein” produced few results, as most popular and scholarly studies of Frankenstein adaptations are more interested in the more faithful (if not most faithful) adaptations. This anthology would thus break new academic ground in terms of both Frankenstein studies and adaptation studies by collecting scholarly approaches to non-faithful adaptations of Frankenstein in all kinds of media that have appeared over the past two decades, the focus being (1) a lack of adaptive fidelity and (2) newer adaptations and texts that may have yet to be given the scholarly treatment.

I see the adulterous adaptations of any work falling into two broad categories: overt and thematic. The overt adaptations, in my mind, use similar if not the same characters as Shelley undertaking tasks and having experiences somewhat similar to the novel, all with an overt in-text reference to “Frankenstein” along the way. These text would include

● The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2008) by Peter Ackroyd

● Frankenweenie (2012) from Tim Burton

● Penny Dreadful (2014–2016) from John Logan

● The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015–2017) from Barry Langford and Benjamin Ross

● Destroyer (2018) by Victor LaValle and Dietrich Smith

● The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein (2019) by Kiersten White

● Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match (2023) by Sally Thorne

● Lisa Frankenstein (2024) from Zelda Williams

The second category of adaptations are even less faithful works, “inspirations” or “essences” based on the themes and some plot points from Frankenstein, such as

● Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013) by Ahmed Saadawi

● Ex Machina (2014) from Alex Garland

● Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) from Joss Whedon

● Patchwork (2015) from Tyler MacIntyre

● Westworld (2016–2022) from Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan

● Blade Runner 2049 (2017) from Denis Villeneuve

● Depraved (2019) from Larry Fessenden

● The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023) from Bomani J. Story

● Poor Things (2023) from Yorgos Lanthimos

These diverse works all demonstrate the ongoing significance of Shelley’s novel—as antecedent, source material, inspiration, or pastiche—and illustrate how her tale has almost become a subgenre of Gothic horror unto itself, evolving and changing to reflect the most pressing cultural anxieties and concerns of the current century.

My goal with this collection is to present breadth and variety, and so I would prefer to have as many texts represented with as little overlap as possible. To that end, I am welcoming proposals on any literary or filmic work with clear thematic ties to Shelley’s original Frankenstein novel (especially those listed above) that have appeared over the past decade or so.

Proposals must include

● a 200–250 word title and abstract of the suggested chapter,

● a loose working bibliography of both primary and secondary sources, and

● a brief statement of qualifications, focusing on relevant scholarly production.

Please email proposals to bishopk@suu.edu no later than July 1, 2024—and I welcome multiple submissions to facilitate breadth and lack of overlap.

Who Am I?

In terms of Frankenstein, I have taught the novel numerous times in upper-division courses on Gothic literature, literary adaptations (dedicating an entire course to the subject for the bicentennial 2018 year), and a study abroad summer program to Ingolstadt, Geneva, and Chamonix in 2016. I have also written and published two articles on Frankenstein:

● “The Subaltern Brides of Frankenstein: Liberating Shelley’s Unrealized Female Creature on Screen.” Creolizing Frankenstein, edited by Michael Paradiso-Michau, Rowman & Littlefield International, 2024, pp. 83–99.

● “The Frankenstein Complex on the Small Screen: Mary Shelley’s Motivic Novel as Adjacent Adaptation.” Adapting Frankenstein: The Monster’s Eternal Lives in Popular Culture, edited by Dennis Cutchins and Dennis R. Perry, Manchester UP, 2018, pp. 111–127.

I also presented “From Prometheus to Pygmalion to Pandora: The Feminist Threat of Frankenstein’s ‘Dark Brides’” at the 2024 Northeast Modern Language Association annual conference, and I am developing that article for publication with Michael Torregrossa.

In terms of editing, I have three co-edited collections under my belt, two scholarly volumes and a special issue of a journal:

● The Post Zombie: The Current and Future State of the Living Dead. Co-edited with C. Wylie Lenz and Angela Tenga, McFarland, 2024. [forthcoming this fall]

● The Written Dead: Essays on the Literary Zombie. Co-edited with Angela Tenga, McFarland, 2017.

● After/Lives: What’s Next for Humanity. Special edition of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, co-edited with Sarah Juliet Lauro, vol. 25, nos. 2–3, 2014.

In addition to being on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal in the Fantastic in the Arts, I have also served as a peer reviewer for over two dozen journals, over a dozen book proposals, and two doctoral dissertations for international graduate programs.

This CFP has been viewed 1,036 times.

CFP Mary Shelley’s The Last Man and Global Issues Collection (7/31/2024)

Call for Book Chapters: “Mary Shelley’s The Last Man and Global Issues”

deadline for submissions: July 31, 2024

contact email: reyam.rammahi@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/01/10/call-for-book-chapters-%E2%80%9Cmary-shelley%E2%80%99s-the-last-man-and-global-issues%E2%80%9D

Vernon Press invites book chapter proposals for the forthcoming edited volume “Mary Shelley’s The Last Man and Global Issues”, edited by Reyam Rammahi.


Much research has already been done on many aspects of Mary Shelley’s The Last Man. However, this volume seeks contributions that link the novel with today’s crucial issues like the COVID-19 pandemic. The Last Man is often associated with the apocalypse, proving that the novel speaks to today’s issues, especially the recent pandemic. The volume welcomes discussions from scholars invested in the rapidly growing interest in postcolonial studies, medical humanities, racist discourses in literature, biopolitics, and disability studies. Literary and interdisciplinary contributions are welcome. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Race and notions of racism in the novel
• The East/West binary
• The association of the fictional plague and COVID-19 with the “Other”
• Oppositions between warring political and social factions in the novel
• Nation and nationalism

Please submit a one-page proposal and a short bio by July 31, 2024 to Reyam Rammahi at reyam.rammahi@gmail.com



Last updated June 25, 2024

CFP Romantic Boundaries (Special Issue of Romantic Textualities) (10/10/2023)

CFP–Romantic Boundaries (Special Issue of Romantic Textualities)
Tien, Yu-hung

Source: https://www.romtext.org.uk/romantic-boundaries/

Posted on 08 September 2023


This June, the BARS Early Career and Postgraduate Conference gathered researchers from around the globe to celebrate and to appreciate Romanticism and its legacies at the University of Edinburgh by exploring the theme of ‘boundaries’ within the context of Romantic-period literature and thought. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term ‘boundary’ as: ‘That which serves to indicate the bounds or limits of anything whether material or immaterial; also the limit itself.’ Such a term seems at odds with the spirit of Romanticist thought, which has long been associated with mobility and boundlessness. Conference delegates aptly addressed the complexity of the concept through various representations of boundaries—both tangible and intangible—from a wide range of viewpoints. To continue such a diverse critical dialogue, in collaboration with Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780–1840, they plan to produce a special ‘Romantic Boundaries’ edition of the journal. To widen the scope of our scholarly conversation, not only do they welcome all the conference delegates to consider expanding their conference papers for publications, but they also invite researchers and scholars in general for submissions.

Echoing our conference theme, topics of interest may include, but are not limited to:

• Geographical and spatial boundaries; transnationalism
• Borders, liminal spaces, and boundary crossing
• Temporal boundaries
• Dialogues between genres and disciplines
• Translations and transgressions
• Lived boundaries (including those pertaining to identity, such as gender, race, or sexuality)
• Digital boundaries
• Human and nonhuman boundaries
• Boundaries and reception; public versus private writings
• Past, present, and future limits of the field of Romantic studies and its canon

Successful abstracts will suggest articles that broaden our understanding of Romantic boundaries by illuminating the elasticity and multiplicity of their meanings. For those who are interested, please submit 500-word abstracts with 5 keywords. Abstracts are due by 10 October 2023. The result will be announced by mid-November.

Essays (5000–8000 words, including footnotes) that grow out of accepted abstracts will undergo peer review and are due by 31 January 2024.

Please email submissions to Yu-hung Tien (yuhung.tien@ed.ac.uk), with a subject line (Romantic Boundaries, ‘Paper Title’, Author Name).

Papers will be published in a special issue of Romantic Textualities (Summer 2024), guest edited by Professor Li-hsin Hsu, Professor Andrew Taylor, and Yu-hung Tien.

Please note that the essay submission date and publication schedule are tentative and subject to change, depending on the reviewing progress.

CFP In Other Wor(l)ds: Romanticism at the Crossroads, a special issue of Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780-1840 (9/15/2023)

In Other Wor(l)ds: Romanticism at the Crossroads, a special issue of Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780-1840

deadline for submissions:
September 15, 2023

full name / name of organization:
Romantic Textualities

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/08/25/in-other-worlds-romanticism-at-the-crossroads-a-special-issue-of-romantic

contact email:
CStampone@SMU.edu

In Other Wor(l)ds: Romanticism at the Crossroads, a special issue of Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780-1840­

Note: The deadline for submissions has been extended to 9/15/23.

Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Altre Parole / In Other Words (2015) describes switching from one language to another as crossing from one side of a body of water to its opposite shore. Inspired by this metaphor, this special issue invites essays that examine Romanticism’s movements across oceans and seas, as well as languages, genres, and genders. This special issue seeks to reevaluate popular conceptions of Romantic aesthetics, recover authors who continue or call into question Romanticism’s continued salience, detail the circulation of texts across oceans and borders, and strike connections between authors of different countries and cultures. Joselyn Almeida, Manu Chander, Bakary Diaby, Tim Fulford, Paul Giles, Evan Gottlieb, Samantha Harvey, Nikki Hessell, Kevin Hutchings, Peter Kitson, Deanna Koretsky, Tricia Matthew, Omar Miranda, César Soto, Helen Thomas, The Bigger 6 Collective, and others have reassessed traditional conceptions of Romanticism(s) and Romantic figures by challenging hitherto limited aesthetic, cultural, and geographical borders. Rather than view Romanticism primarily as an insulated phenomenon born out of a few European countries—as has generally been the case—this edition seeks to offer transatlantic, transpacific, and even transnational Romanticisms. Taken as a whole, this special issue will stretch the bounds and time period of Romanticism, better reflecting the development of Romantic aesthetics and their manifestations and subversions across the globe.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Revisionary analyses that account for a global framework and decolonise texts, authors, and Romanticism as a field of study;
• Romantic networks connecting authors and ideas across space and time;
• Critical race theory and non-binary & genderqueer readings of underrepresented and canonical texts, art, music, performances, and oral traditions;
• BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ authors and artists;
• History of the book and transnational reception histories of underrepresented as well as canonical works of literature, specifically works that reached different parts of the globe by either book, newspaper, broadsides, handbills, and other print ephemera; and
• Comparative analyses connecting authors using similar forms (e.g., ballad romance), genre (e.g., Gothic), or allusions (e.g., Paradise Lost) across nations and languages.

Successful proposals will suggest articles that enrich our understanding of Romanticism by expanding its literal and metaphorical borders. Abstracts are due by August 15, 2023 and should be no longer than 600 words in length. Essays that grow out of accepted abstracts will undergo peer review and are due by January 31, 2024. Please email submissions to Christopher Stampone (CStampone@SMU.edu). Papers will be published in a special issue of Romantic Textualities(Winter 2024), guest edited by Christopher Stampone and Joel Pace.



Note: The deadline for submissions has been extended to 9/15/23.



Last updated September 1, 2023

CFP Critical Insights on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (8/9/2023)

Sorry to have missed this earlier. It should serve as a great companion to the publisher's volumes on Mary Shelley and Stoker's Dracula.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus UNDER CONTRACT

deadline for submissions:
August 9, 2023

full name / name of organization:
Critical Insights Series: Salem Press

contact email:
lauranicosia@gmail.com



DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: Monday, August 7, 2023



We seek submissions for a Critical Insights volume, under contract with Salem Press, on Mary (Wollenstonecraft) Shelley’s, Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus. Amidst rapid technological advancements, moral dilemmas, and ethical questions surrounding scientific progress, Shelley’s iconic 1818 novel, Frankenstein, still resonates in contemporary society. The novel continues to captivate readers with its timeless themes and cautionary lessons about scientific ambition and the consequences of playing God. The frame-tale novel, often overshadowed by subsequent film versions, is groundbreaking by giving a voice to the monster via its epistolary embedded-narrative form.



In today's world, where advancements like gene editing and human augmentation are becoming a reality, Shelley's novel urges us to reflect on the ethical boundaries humanity should set for itself and the potential consequences of crossing them. The novel also has compelled readers for over two centuries for its insight into the consideration of alienation and Otherness. Victor’s monster, as an outsider, brings to light the question of what is a human as he grapples with his own isolation, a concept humans increasingly identify with in the twenty-first century. The novel also remains pertinent for its environmental concerns, as ecological critics remind readers of the responsibility humans have toward the environment.



Submissions should be representative of current critical discourse about the novel and conceptually within reach of current students at the secondary and undergraduate levels. Essays that attempt to articulate the novel’s major themes and successes especially will be appreciated, as well as those that compare her work to other compelling writers.



Submissions should be tailored to one of the following categories:

• A COMPREHENSIVE BIOGRAPHICAL essay (this essay is limited to 2500 words);
• A CRITICAL RECEPTION essay that traces the reception of Shelley’s novel from publication to today (~5000 words);
• CRITICAL LENS essays that offer a close reading of the novel from a particular critical standpoint (~5000 words);
• COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS essays that analyze the work or author in the light of another work or author(~5000 words);
• CRITICAL READING essays that focus on contemporary readings of a Shelley’s novel, with emphasis on ways readers (i.e. students in secondary and university settings) might be able to appreciate or problematize the text(s) with new eyes and current literary theories (~5000 words).

By August 7, please submit a 250-350-word abstract, a 75-word biographical statement (including your affiliation), and contact information to the acquiring editor, Dr. Laura Nicosia: lauranicosia@gmail.com.



Submissions of approximately 5000 words (inclusive of Works Cited) will need to be completed by November 13, 2023.



Honoraria will be awarded by the publisher to contributors after publication.



Last updated June 27, 2023
This CFP has been viewed 1,333 times.

CFP Frankenstein’s Lives: Shelley’s Novel as Cultural Phenomenon (expired)

Profuse apologies for having missed this as well.


Frankenstein’s Lives: Shelley’s Novel as Cultural Phenomenon
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/02/21/frankenstein%E2%80%99s-lives-shelley%E2%80%99s-novel-as-cultural-phenomenon

deadline for submissions: May 20, 2019

full name / name of organization:
Robert I. Lublin and Elizabeth Fay

contact email:
robert.lublin@umb.edu

Call for Papers: Frankenstein’s Lives: Shelley’s Novel as Cultural Phenomenon

Co-edited by Robert I. Lublin and Elizabeth Fay

We seek chapter proposals for a collection that celebrates the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

After 200 years, Frankenstein has emerged into an international cultural phenomenon. During the novel’s bicentennial, events took place around the world to celebrate the novel’s publication. Frankenstein continues to be more salient than ever. We are compiling a collection that explores the range of cultural responses the novel has elicited as well as the ways it continues to be relevant to our world today and to the future.

Frankenstein’s Lives will explore the various ways that the novel has proved to be a cultural touchstone, particularly in moments of stress. For instance, The Living Theatre creatively responded to the politics of the 1960s with their piece of “total theatre,” Frankenstein. Today, more than ever, the novel speaks to us as we encounter an increasingly uncertain world. Recent theatrical revisions have staged the novel in politically trenchant ways. 21st century film versions highlight 21st century fears. The novel also speaks to current political pressures that threaten to tear our world apart. Essays may take a broad range of approaches, so long as they seek to make sense of the cultural phenomenon Frankenstein has become. We welcome critical and creative interventions in our understanding of the novel as a social and cultural phenomenon.



Possible chapter topics:

• Science Fiction
• Frankenstein on stage
• Gender studies
• Technology
• Animal studies
• Food
• Artistic responses
• Music
• Postcolonialism
• Poststructural philosophy
• Politics
• Monstrosity

Please submit a proposal (500 word max) along with a brief bio (50 word max) to both Robert I. Lublin (robert.lublin@umb.edu) and Elizabeth Fay (elizabeth.fay@umb.edu) by May 20, 2019. Final essays should be 6500-9000 words, including notes and citations. Feel free to contact the co-editors if you have any questions.


Last updated February 21, 2019
This CFP has been viewed 2,920 times.

CFP The Scientist in Popular Culture (expired)

My apologies for having missed posting this earlier. It is an intriguing approach to the legacy of Shelley's novel.


Edited Collection - The Scientist in Popular Culture
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/08/21/edited-collection-the-scientist-in-popular-culture

deadline for submissions: September 15, 2019

full name / name of organization: Rebecca Janicker, University of Portsmouth
contact email: rebecca.janicker@port.ac.uk


From news and documentaries to TV drama and major media franchises, science has become a firm fixture in contemporary media culture. Across these diverse formats, a fascination with the perceived capacity of science – whether in the guise of medicine, criminology, space science or engineering – to transform life in wonderful and fearful ways endures. The figure of the scientist is science made manifest and, though different variants have evolved over the centuries, the scientist has remained a constant presence in Western culture. The last hundred years or so has seen many developments in science and technology and popular culture has kept abreast of these, portraying scientists that respond to the shifting hopes and fears of eager audiences. Science fiction may work variously to celebrate or denigrate scientific values and activities and many horror fictions have explored the ramifications of dabbling in science and technology. Moreover, the recent flourishing of superhero narratives has meant a strong focus on such characters and scenarios. The imaginary feats and failures, as well as the cultural prominence, of scientists have attained ever-greater heights as a result. Science and scientists have also flourished in other genres, such as forensic drama, police procedurals and true crime narratives, found their way into children’s fictions, and into comedy.

Acknowledging the long and enduring history of fictional scientists, including adaptations and re-imaginings, this planned essay collection seeks to offer critical interrogations of recent portrayals of the scientist as well as fresh insights into long-established characters. Scientists have featured on the big screen from the early days of cinema and held their own on the small for decades, from network television staples and lavish HBO offerings to recent fare on streaming services like Netflix. With this tradition in mind, suggested case studies might include, though are not limited to, the following texts:

Films: Annihilation (2018); Back to the Future (1985); Contact (1997); Deep Blue Sea (1999); Despicable Me (2010); The Fly (1958), The Fly (1986); Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931); Frankenstein,etc (Universal), Curse of Frankenstein, etc (Hammer), I, Frankenstein (2014); Godzilla (1998), Godzilla (2014); Hollow Man (2000); Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989); I Am Legend (2007); The Invisible Man (1933); Island of Lost Souls (1932), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996); Jurassic Park (1993), etc; The Man with Two Brains (1983); The Martian (2015); MCU (Black Panther, Deadpool, The Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Venom,etc); Mimic (1997); The Nutty Professor (1996); The Omega Man (1971); Outbreak (1995); Piranha (1978); Re-Animator (1985); Splice (2009); World War Z (2013); Young Frankenstein (1974); 28 Days Later (2002), plus any prequels, sequels and other franchise entries.

TV: The Alienist; American Horror Story; The Big Bang Theory; Bones; Chernobyl; CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, CSI: Cyber; Dexter; Doctor Who; The Flash; Futurama; Game of Thrones; Hannibal; The O.A.; Penny Dreadful; Rick and Morty; Ripper Street; Sherlock; Silent Witness; The Strain; Stranger Things; Waking the Dead; The Walking Dead; Westworld, plus any spin-offs and other franchise entries.

Potential topics might include: issues of representation (e.g. age, childhood, gender, race, sexuality); genre (e.g. detective fiction, forensic drama, medical drama, police procedurals); Gothic and horror tropes; the role of the scientist in environmental catastrophes and outbreaks; national identity and history; science and ideology (e.g. philosophy, religion, scientism); science in partnership (e.g. business, Government, military, etc)



Advice for Contributors

Please send 250 word abstracts, along with a short bio, to Rebecca.Janicker@port.ac.uk by September 15, 2019. Abstracts should aim to clarify the intended scope and focus of the essay and include a provisional title. Queries are welcome at the same email address.



Publishers have been contacted about the project and abstracts will form part of the written proposal. The final essays will be scholarly and engaging and 7000–8000 words in total.



About the Editor

Rebecca Janicker is a Senior Lecturer in Film and Media Studies at the University of Portsmouth, UK. She received her PhD from the University of Nottingham in 2014 and had her thesis published as The Literary Haunted House: Lovecraft, Matheson, King and the Horror in Between (McFarland, 2015). She is the editor of Reading ‘American Horror Story’: Essays on the Television Franchise (McFarland, 2017) and has published journal articles and book chapters on Gothic and horror in literature and comics, film and TV.



Last updated August 22, 2019

CFP Creature Re-Feature: Frankenstein at 2000 (NeMLA 2018 Panel) (abstracts by 9/30/2017)

Creature Re-Feature: Frankenstein at 2000 (Panel)

The 49th NeMLA Annual Convention
April 12-15, 2018 Pittsburgh, PA

Primary Area / Secondary Area

Cultural Studies and Media Studies / Anglophone

Chair(s)

Rikk Mulligan (Carnegie Mellon University)
Submissions to: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/16974

Abstract

In Frankenstein: A Cultural History (2007), Susan Tyler Hitchcock argues that the central myth of Mary Shelley’s novel is one of “claiming long-forbidden knowledge and facing the consequences” (4). Frankenstein’s creation has become a metaphor for hubris, overreach, and discovery divorced from humanity; it is also an argument for ethical creation. Over the past two hundred years as science and technology have evolved, this metaphor has been applied to atomic weapons and power, cloning, genetic modification, and artificial intelligence among other pursuits. The novel has been adapted for stage, screen, graphic novels, and even video games, using new settings and often reimagining and adding characters, yet leaving others relatively untouched.

This session seeks papers that explore the ways in which the iconic figures of Victor Frankenstein and his creation have been transformed in the early 21st century.
Papers might explore recent film, television or novels including but not limited to:

• Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein quadrilogy (2005-2010)
• Frankenstein (BBC, 2007)
• Peter Ackroyd’s The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2008)
• The Frankenstein Theory (2013)
• I, Frankenstein (2014)
• Penny Dreadful (Showtime, 2014-2016)
• Victor Frankenstein (2015)
• The Frankenstein Chronicles (BBC TV, 2015)
• Second Chance (Fox, 2016)
• Doc Frankenstein (comic series, Burlyman Entertainment, 6 issues, 2004-2016)
• Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. (DC Comics, 17 issues, 2011-2013)

Description

2018 is the bicentennial of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This session will explore how the iconic figures of Victor Frankenstein and his creation have been transformed in the early 21st century. Any source including comics books, television and cable series, films, and novels may be considered so long as they were released in or after 2000.

CFP Frankenstein and the American Dream

Frankenstein and the American Dream?

Frankenstein and the Fantastic, an outreach effort of the Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association seeks proposals for a panel in commemoration of the endurance of Frankenstein and the Frankenstein tradition. The session is being submitted for the 2017 meeting of the American Literature Association to be held in Boston, Massachusetts, from 25-28 May 2017.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein celebrates the two-hundredth anniversary of its publication in 2018, and, over the almost two centuries of the story’s existence, Frankenstein, its characters, and its themes have inspired a myriad range of creative responses, including retellings, adaptions, linked texts (i.e. prequels, midquels and sequels), recastings, and allusions. American creators seem to have been especially fascinated by Frankenstein and its textual progeny, and American-made productions have offered many thought-provoking transformations of Shelley’s work.

What is most interesting is that some of these American works promote happy (or at least happier) endings to the tale that permit the creator and/or his creation to live beyond the ending prescribed by Shelley’s narrative. This has allowed them, the creature most importantly, to achieve (at least to some extent) the privileges, available to all Americans, of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In seeking and claiming aspects of the American dream for Shelley’s characters the Frankensteiniana of the United States provides insight in how one nation in particular has adopted and appropriated Shelley’s story and made it its own.

We are especially interested in proposals that explore how American-made texts relate to Shelley’s novel and the larger tradition of Frankenstein-related texts in popular culture. Possible options would include works by American production companies (film and television studios, publishing houses, comic book companies, etc.), American-born creators working either in the United States or abroad, and foreign-born creators working for American companies. Additional options might explore Frankenstein and Frankenstein-related texts in an American context/setting.

Please submit proposals to FrankensteinandtheFantastic@gmail.com no later than 28 January 2017. A complete proposal should include the following: your complete contact information, a clear and useful title of your paper, an abstract of your paper (approximately 250 to 600 words), a brief biographical statement explaining your academic status and authority to speak about your proposed topic, and a note on any audio/visual requirements.

Further details on the Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area can be found at https://nepcafantastic.blogspot.com. The Frankenstein and the Fantastic project has its own dedicated site at https://frankensteinandthefantastic.blogspot.com/ that will be expanded in 2017.

Complete details on the American Literature Association and its conference can be found at http://americanliteratureassociation.org/ala-conferences/ala-annual-conference/.