TALK: Making The Monster! Dr Kathryn Harkup

As part of the University of Aberdeen Fear and Fascination exhibition programme, University Collections is delighted to welcome writer and science communicator Dr Kathryn Harkup as guest speaker for this year's Book Week Scotland.

Is there any science fact behind the science fiction of Mary Shelley's Gothic novel Frankenstein? And how might a real-life Victor Frankenstein have gone about creating his monster? The century before its publication saw huge advances in our understanding of science, particularly electricity and physiology. Sensational science demonstrations caught the imagination of the general public, and newspapers were full of lurid tales of murderers and resurrectionists. From stories of artificial life and experimental surgery, to 'monsters' and electrical experiments on human cadavers, Kathryn Harkup examines the science and scientists that influenced Shelley and inspired her most famous creation.

Dr Kathryn Harkup is a former chemist turned author. She also gives regular public talks on the disgusting and dangerous side of science. She is the author of Making the Monster: The Science of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and has also written the international best-seller A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, Death by Shakespeare and Vampirology: The Science of Horror’s Most Famous Fiend. The scientific world of James Bond has also been scrutinised in Superspy Science. Her most recent book is V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death.

Event attendees are welcome to look around the Fear & Fascination exhibition in the University Collections Gallery on the ground floor of the Sir Duncan Rice Library. Gothic novels emerged in the 1760s as a new genre, using fear to entice and engage. While Gothic novels have been written in many languages and contexts, this exhibition focuses on the genre’s foundation and development in Britain. The novels marked a time of change and discovery, when the fear of the unknown was paired with the excitement of possibilities. These tales fascinated readers with their transgressive topics and storylines of ghosts, monsters, and villains, exploring the tensions between scientific and faith-based understandings of the world.

An online version of the exhibition is also available: Fear And Fascination: A Gothic Exhibition

Book Week Scotland – now in its fourteenth year – is an annual celebration of books and reading that takes place across the country in November. During Book Week, people of all ages and walks of life come together to share the joy of reading. University Collections is delighted to be a partner in Book Week Scotland.

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Host or Publisher University of Aberdeen Museums, University of Aberdeen