WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., March 28, 2018 —West Liberty University’s College of Liberal Arts is celebrating the birth of Frankenstein (the novel) in 2018, beginning with an interdisciplinary symposium from from 10 a.m. – noon, Tuesday, April 3.

Sponsored by a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council and matching funds from the WLU Foundation, the symposium is free and open to the public and will take place in the Boyle Conference Center, located in the Academic, Sport and Recreation Complex (ASRC). Written by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein continues to attract the attention of the academic world due to its universal themes.

“We’re calling it Frankenstein @ 200 and the goal of this symposium is to celebrate the bicentenary of the novel, which was originally published on January 1, 1818, and to ponder its continued relevance and importance to scholars in a variety of fields,” said Dr. Angela Rehbein, associate professor of English.

The celebration will continue in fall of 2018 with other events including a film series of the many screen adaptations of the novel.

The symposium will feature three speakers:

• Matthew Zdilla, associate professor of biology, whose presentation is titled “The Modern, Modern Prometheus: Bringing the dead back to life 200 years after Frankenstein”
• Aaron Harper, assistant professor of philosophy, whose presentation is titled “Alienation and Self-Alienation in Frankenstein”
• Angela Rehbein, associate professor of English, whose presentation is titled “‘A Thinking and Reasoning Animal’: Gender, Agency, and Literary Authority in Frankenstein.”

Other plans are in the works for a special library exhibit of comic book and graphic novel adaptations of Frankenstein, assembled by Dr. A. Waller Hastings, professor of English, who will also lecture on this topic. WLU professors will also take the show on the road with soon-to-be announced book discussions at local libraries and reading groups.

“The schedule of fall events is still a work in progress but will eventually be listed on the WLU website and released to the news later this year,” Rehbein said.

WLU’s English Department is housed in the College of Liberal Arts, led by Dean Gerard NeCastro.

Established in 1837, West Liberty University now offers more than 70 undergraduate majors, plus a growing number of graduate programs including master degrees in education, physician assistant studies, criminology, biology, professional studies and an online MBA, which includes a new accounting tract. 

For more information on WLU, please call 1.866.WESTLIB or visit westliberty.edu.