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Online Talk: Mary Shelley Beyond Frankenstein

The spark of life was only the beginning.

Whilst popular culture remembers the lightning flash and the stitched-together creature, Frankenstein remains one of the most searching meditations on science, loneliness, and what it means to be human. Remarkably, Mary Shelley was still a teenager when she wrote it.

From the icy wastes of the Arctic in Frankenstein to the uncanny resurrections and transformations of her shorter fiction, this online event celebrates the enduring imagination of the so-called “Mother of Science Fiction.” Professor Sharon Ruston explores the story of Frankenstein’s creature alongside Mary Shelley’s lesser-known tales.

She shows how stories such as On Ghosts, Roger Dodsworth: The Reanimated Englishman, Valerius: The Reanimated Roman, and Transformation continue to reveal Shelley’s lifelong fascination with animation, identity, and the boundaries between life and death.

‘It was absolutely superb – very informative and delivered with authority.’ Visitor to previous online event

Tickets £6

Wednesday 7 October 2026, 7-8pm

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Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is run by Manchester Historic Buildings Trust (charity no. 1080606) and all money gained through private tours, talks, room hire and ticket sales goes towards the ongoing maintenance and running costs of the House. If you would like to support the House with an additional donation you can do so via this link.