The Frankenstein Complex, a gothic novel course, considers the evolution of Mary Shelley’s novel during the summer of 1816 at the Villa Diodati in Switzerland by examining the authors she read: Plutarch’s Lives, Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther, and Milton’s Paradise Lost. We will explore a classic novel in the gothic vein, by Ann Radcliffe, comparing it with Mary Shelley; we may also consider the vampire myth and theories of otherness by reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We close by considering modern versions of the gothic in the works of H.G. Wells’ Island of Doctor Moreau and/or Tim Powers’ Stress of Her Regard. Films include Ken Russell’s “Gothic,”, John Whale’s “Frankenstein”, and Marlon Brando’s performance in “The Island of Doctor Moreau”.

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