The Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College organized Peer Webinar: Chapter 11 on 19th September, 2022 at 7 pm. The speaker was Ms. Sayantani Sengupta; her paper was titled “Frankenstein’s (Inter)Textual Monster: Authorship, Immortality and Death.” The webinar was held on Google Meet; it was attended by faculty members and the PG Semester IV students of the Department of English.
The Peer Webinars are a unique monthly endeavour by the Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College that has facilitated an amiable atmosphere for the exchange of research ideas. In the eleventh chapter of this series of webinars, Ms. Sayantani Sengupta evaluated how far Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein might hold up as an allegory of literary creation embedded in an intertextual network. Kaleidoscopic in its meaning and significance, Frankenstein has revealed itself to be more than a simple story of a man playing God, trying to bend the rules of nature in order to save mankind from the agony of death and diseases. It may also be analysed as a tale of literary creation, a story of attaining immortality through creation, and shielding oneself from time-mandated obscurity.
The presentation began with an assessment of the human need to create; followed by a comparison between God, Prometheus and the figure of the author and their creative methods. Taking examples from the text, the presentation further considered whether Victor Frankenstein, as “the Modern Prometheus,” by giving life to a Creature which is a conglomeration of dismembered parts and organs harvested from different sources, actually “authors” it and, by extension, if the Creature’s desire to annihilate his creator is symbolic of a text’s desire to break free from the monologic tyranny of the author. While Victor Frankenstein does manage to create an animate being, his creature is not born ex-nihilo and the presentation delved into the implications of Victor Frankentein’s failed endeavour in the context of post-structuralist literary theory, especially those of Barthes and Kristeva.
The presentation concluded with a study of how far Victor Frankenstein, as an author, was limited by his creation and how far his reality limited the existence of his created being. The presentation was followed by a hearty discussion on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the nuances of scriptor/writer binary and the need to explore the literary implications of Victor Frankenstein’s refusal to create a female monster from a feminist perspective.
Peer Webinar has enabled scholars with varying research interests, temperaments and thrust-areas to present their ideas on this platform, thus enriching the listeners through an exposure to diverse academic areas and possible greener pasture.
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“Fashion” they say “fades, but style is eternal”. And one has to admit that the Bhawanipur Education Society College – the BESC in general and BE-ites in particular have style, oodles of it. But as Prof Dilip Shah, the Dean of Student Affairs of the college pointed out right in the onset, the meaning of …
The Sun, the sky and the stars intrigue us irrespective of our academic and professional backgrounds and the students of The Bhawanipur Education Society College were beyond honored to have Dr. Debiprosad Duari, an internationally renowned astrophysicist, educator and researcher to share his words of wisdom with them. Dr. Duari is associated with NASA …
Peer Webinar: Chapter 11
The Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College organized Peer Webinar: Chapter 11 on 19th September, 2022 at 7 pm. The speaker was Ms. Sayantani Sengupta; her paper was titled “Frankenstein’s (Inter)Textual Monster: Authorship, Immortality and Death.” The webinar was held on Google Meet; it was attended by faculty members and the PG Semester IV students of the Department of English.
The Peer Webinars are a unique monthly endeavour by the Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College that has facilitated an amiable atmosphere for the exchange of research ideas. In the eleventh chapter of this series of webinars, Ms. Sayantani Sengupta evaluated how far Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein might hold up as an allegory of literary creation embedded in an intertextual network. Kaleidoscopic in its meaning and significance, Frankenstein has revealed itself to be more than a simple story of a man playing God, trying to bend the rules of nature in order to save mankind from the agony of death and diseases. It may also be analysed as a tale of literary creation, a story of attaining immortality through creation, and shielding oneself from time-mandated obscurity.
The presentation began with an assessment of the human need to create; followed by a comparison between God, Prometheus and the figure of the author and their creative methods. Taking examples from the text, the presentation further considered whether Victor Frankenstein, as “the Modern Prometheus,” by giving life to a Creature which is a conglomeration of dismembered parts and organs harvested from different sources, actually “authors” it and, by extension, if the Creature’s desire to annihilate his creator is symbolic of a text’s desire to break free from the monologic tyranny of the author. While Victor Frankenstein does manage to create an animate being, his creature is not born ex-nihilo and the presentation delved into the implications of Victor Frankentein’s failed endeavour in the context of post-structuralist literary theory, especially those of Barthes and Kristeva.
The presentation concluded with a study of how far Victor Frankenstein, as an author, was limited by his creation and how far his reality limited the existence of his created being. The presentation was followed by a hearty discussion on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the nuances of scriptor/writer binary and the need to explore the literary implications of Victor Frankenstein’s refusal to create a female monster from a feminist perspective.
Peer Webinar has enabled scholars with varying research interests, temperaments and thrust-areas to present their ideas on this platform, thus enriching the listeners through an exposure to diverse academic areas and possible greener pasture.
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