Winter Read Talk: Creature Features: A History of "Frankenstein" Movies In-Person
Part of the 2026 Winter Read of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Join us throughout February for films, speakers, and discussions.
Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein is its own type of monster mythos that will not die, a corpus whose parts keep getting harvested to animate new artistic creations. What makes this tale so adaptable and so resilient that, nearly 200 years later, it remains vitally relevant in a culture radically different from the one that spawned its birth?
Join us for a talk with Dr. Lester Friedman, co-author of Monstrous Progeny: A History of the Frankenstein Narratives. Dr. Friedman - who will join us over Zoom in the Library's lecture hall - will take us on a fascinating exploration of the Frankenstein family tree, from Shelley's text to the evolution of the book's figures and themes into modern productions in film.
Registration recommended to join us in person. Link forthcoming to watch online (no registration needed). The recording will be available to watch later on The Community Library's Event Archive.
- Date:
- Wednesday, February 11, 2026
- Time:
- 5:30pm - 6:30pm
- Time Zone:
- Mountain Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall
- Campus:
- The Community Library
- Audience:
- Adults
- Categories:
- Lectures & Conversations Winter Read
Lester D. Friedman, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor and former chair of the Media and Society Program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Prior to his time at HWS, Professor Friedman taught cinema studies at Syracuse, Northwestern, and American Universities, as well as the Art Institute of Chicago. He also taught health humanities and bioethics at Upstate Medical Center (Syracuse) and the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University (Chicago). The author, co-author, and editor of over 20 books, his areas of academic specialties include: film genres, American cinema of the 1970s, American Jewish cinema, British film of the 1980s, and Health and Humanities. Additionally, he written books about Steven Spielberg, Arthur Penn, Peter Pan, Frankenstein, and Clint Eastwood. He has authored two screenplays that have been the basis of award-winning independent films. Professor Friedman has won the National Jewish Book Award (Visual Arts, 1988) and is also a JEOPARDY! Champion.