Frankenstein: Texts and Contexts

The traditional Catholic theological view of creation.

The Catholic, and Anglican, teaching on the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day.

An survey of the idea that the workings of nature provide proof of a divine creator.

A report by Benjamin Franklin which debunks the validity of the "science" of animal magnetism. This English translation was published in 1837.

A British text in support of the idea of animal magnetism, an unseen ethereal fluid that could induce a state of hypnotism. First propounded by Franz Mesmer (1734-1815), this idea is commonly known as mesmerism.

A survey of the concept, from mechanism and vitalism to artificial life.