On the night before Halloween, Dr. Therese Jones an Associate Professor at the University of Utah's Department of Medical Ethics and Humanities, spoke about the legacy of Frankenstein here at The Leo. While Jones' talk addressed the history and authorship of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein story, she also spoke about why the story has endured.


The story of Frankenstein remains captivating, she said, because we still marvel at medical technology and tremble at the terrors of modern healthcare. Even after Mary Shelley's time, we still wrestle with many of the same medical ethics issues now as a society. For example, is there a limit to how people can fashion matter, including ourselves, to suit our designs? And, just because we can genetically, chemically or surgically alter our bodies, should we? What do you think?


During a discussion with audience members afterward, one person compared BODY WORLDS creator Dr. Gunther von Hagens to the fictional Dr. Frankenstein. Both Van Hagens and Frankenstein, she observed, faced tremendous adversity and both pushed the limits of medical ethics in "bringing life back to the dead."



You can now listen to Dr. Therese Jones' talk on Frankenstein's legacy here.