Frankenstein's explosive origin and geography

In her lecture on Tuesday, Julie Rich, Assistant Professor of Geography at Weber State University, presented how geography and climate conditions contributed to the writing of "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. "The genesis of 'Frankenstein' takes place in Geneva, Switzerland," Rich said. "It is one of the most beautiful cities in Switzerland, if not all of Europe." Rich continued speaking about the importance of Shelley's travels and the climatic and geographic conditions in the early 1800s. "Mary Shelley had traveled throughout Europe on foot, by carriage and by barge on the Rhine River," Rich said. "As I read this novel I was vicariously living, through Mary Shelley, some of my previous travel experiences." In the year 1815, Rich said the volcano Mount Tambora erupted and caused "a year without summer" that provided the backdrop for the writing of the story. "Temperatures dropped drastically for about a year," Rich said. "This was the time that Mary Shelley was cloistered in her villa in Geneva with four of her closest friends. It proved a wet, ungenial summer and incessant rain often confined them for days at a time." Rich said the four challenged each other, during this time, to see who could come up with the best ghost story. Rich said this is how Frankenstein came about. Dacia Nelson, a junior in the nursing program at WSU, said she loved the geographic diversity included in the story of Frankenstein. "I loved how Rich related not only the places in the book," Nelson said, "but also the historically prominent places and mentioned the importance of each place during the time period of the book. I think knowing the different places in the book helps me understand things about the book that I didn't know before." Rich also spoke about other factors that contributed to the writing of "Frankenstein" including sunspots. "When there are more sunspots, there are more solar flares," Rich said. "This is one of the things that cooled the climate during this time period." Rich compared the route that Mary Shelley took when traveling Europe and the route that Victor Frankenstein used in the book. She showed a very detailed outline of the overlapping of the two routes and proved that the personal travels of Mary Shelley greatly influenced her work of "Frankenstein." "Mary Shelley spread out the novel into many different locations including; Switzerland, Germany, England, Greece, France, Russia, the Arctic and many other locations," Rich said. Rich showed that Mary Shelley had traveled to many of the same locations in her lifetime of travels. "Shelley's previous wonderings throughout Europe were the inspiration to her book," Rich said. "I'm glad Mary Shelley cast the book into many different exciting locations and settings of Europe." Caril Jennings, Marketing Director for the Department of Performing Arts, said she was fascinated by Rich's interesting perspective on the geography of the story. "I knew some pieces independently about the geography of the book, but I hadn't ever put it all together," Jennings said. "Seeing the map of the different locations made it that much more interesting, it made the story seem so real." The next event in the "Weber Reads Frankenstein" series will be on Thursday, April 9th at 7p.m. at the Pleasant Valley Branch Library, Black Box Theater.