240 – Frankenstein and Mermaids

In this episode of MonsterTalk Radio, Blake and Karen have David Farnell of Fukuoka University on the show to talk about Frankenstein and the novel’s—and the monster’s—impact on pop culture, as well as how the definition of what a monster is and how monsters are perceived have evolved through literature. David has published numerous papers on monsters and monsters in literature.

Guest: David Farnell
Hosted by Blake Smith and Karen Stollznow

Notable Quotes

“…the monster is an observer, and that’s very often what androids and other artificial humans are: they’re observers of humanity. They look at us and say, my God, people are horrible. And so, they are criticisms of us.”
– David Farnell

“The monsters are very often a mirror that we hold up to ourselves.”
– David Farnell

“These days, for many people, the boundaries of the category of what it is to be human, what it is to be a man, what it is to be a woman, are changing. A lot of times, what it means to be a monster is changing. And monsters can become more sympathetic and more positive in some ways. They’re showing us, here are some possibilities outside of the way that you were raised. And the monster is not really a monster. The monster is just a different way of being a person than you thought was allowed.”
– David Farnell

Mentioned in this episode:

• “The Ecological Weird in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy.” Ecocriticism Review 14 (2021): 10-20.
• (With Rute Noiva) “Monstrous Beauty, Monstrous Strength: The Case of the Mermaid.” Re-Visiting Female Evil: Power, Purity and Desire. Ed. Melissa Dearey, Roger Davis, Susana Nicolas. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers, 2018. 55-81.
• “Unlikely Utopians: Ecotopian Dreaming in H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’ and Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood.” Changing the Climate: Utopia, Dystopia, and Catastrophe. Ed. Andrew Milner, Simon Sellars, and Verity Burgmann. North Carlton, Australia: 2011. 141-56. (Also printed in Arena Journal, New Series 35/36 (2011): 141-56.)

Ishiro Honda’s Matango – aka Attack of the Mushroom People 

William Hope Hodgson’s The Voice in the Night 

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