It has been 200 years since Mary Shelley wrote the story of a young scientist who pieced together a monster from human body parts - but the sinister influence of Frankenstein's monster in our collective consciousness is as strong as it ever was.
The University of Otago is preparing this week to celebrate the 200th birthday of the Gothic novel sometimes heralded as the first work of science fiction.
It was published in 1818, when Shelley - wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley- was only 20.
Bioethicist Susan Lederer, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will speak at the university this evening, and a panel discussion and screening of film The Bride of Frankenstein will be staged tomorrow.
English lecturer Thomas McLean will join Prof Lederer for the panel discussion tomorrow, along with anatomy professor Gareth Jones and film and media, film and communication studies lecturer Paul Raemaker.
