Monster Smash

Creator and creature -- the plot of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, published in 1818 -- still pulses with relevance today. Modern scientists struggle with bioethical issues that, a century ago, could only have been the creation of an imaginative mind.
The remarkable life of Shelley and the evolution of her famous novel will be part of a traveling exhibit titled "Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature," which will be at Baylor Sept. 17 to Nov. 3.
The Baylor University Libraries system is among 80 U.S. libraries selected to host the exhibit, which will be in the Allbritton Foyer of Moody Memorial Library.
"Anyone who has read the novel would realize that, in the 21st century, we're looking at a lot of the same issues that Mary Shelley looked at in Frankenstein," said Kathy Hillman, associate professor and acquisitions librarian and co-chair for the exhibit. "The creation of human life through cloning and other kinds of bioethical issues are certainly in the forefront today. That's the subject she deals with -- the responsibility of the individual to society, the importance of family."
The Baylor Libraries system was one of 40 selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities to receive a grant for programming related to the exhibit, which will show how playwrights, filmmakers and the media have transformed Shelley's saga into one of the Western world's most enduring myths. 
The exhibit was developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in collaboration with the American Library Association. It has been made possible by major grants from the NLM and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For current information on this exhibit, visit www.baylor.edu/Library/frankenstein.