Victor Frankenstein, the Monster and the Shadows of Technology

The Frankenstein Prophecies

Robert D. Romanyshyn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780367137311
• eBook ISBN: 9780429647819
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

In Victor Frankenstein, the Monster and the Shadows of Technology: The Frankenstein Prophecies, Romanyshyn asks eight questions that uncover how Mary Shelley's classic work Frankenstein haunts our world. Providing a uniquely interdisciplinary assessment, Romanyshyn combines Jungian theory, literary criticism and mythology to explore answers to the query at the heart of this book: who is the monster?

In the first six questions, Romanyshyn explores how Victor's story and the Monster's tale linger today as the dark side of Frankenstein's quest to create a new species that would bless him as its creator. Victor and the Monster are present in the guises of climate crises, the genocides of our "god wars," the swelling worldwide population of refugees, the loss of place in digital space, the Western obsession with eternal youth and the eclipse of the biological body in genetic and computer technologies that are redefining what it means to be human. In the book's final two questions, Romanyshyn uncovers some seeds of hope in Mary Shelley's work and explores how the Monster's tale reframes her story as a love story.

This important book will be essential reading for academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian theory, literature, philosophy and psychology, psychotherapists in practice and in training, and for all who are concerned with the political, social and cultural crises we face today.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Question One. Resurrecting the dead: Is Mary Shelley’s story a prophecy of the dangers of acting as gods?
• Question Two. The melting polar ice: Is Mary Shelley’s story a prophecy of the dying of nature?
• Question Three. The Monster’s body: Is Mary Shelley’s story a prophecy of the Monster’s descendants?
• Question Four. Out of Africa to the moon: Is Mary Shelley’s story a prophecy of creating a new species of humankind?
• Question Five. From astronauts to angels in clouds: Is Mary Shelley’s story a prophecy of the last generations of humankind?
• Question Six. WWW: Adrift in the digital world: Is Mary Shelley’s story a prophecy of being homeless in a wired, webbed world?
• Question Seven. Who is the Monster?: Is Mary Shelley’s story a prophecy of a radical ethics?
• Question Eight. Other seeds of hope in Mary Shelley’s story: Is Mary Shelley’s story a prophecy of new beginnings?
• References
• Index