One Book, One College

One Book, One College is a year-long, interdisciplinary program engaging the ICC community through the reading and discussion of a shared book.

Fostering interdisciplinary relationships through a shared reading experience.

2018-2019 One Book, One College Selection:

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

2018 marks the bicentennial of Mary Shelley’s seminal novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818). In honor of the bicentennial, Penguin Classics has published the original 1818 text, which preserves the hard-hitting and politically-charged aspects of Shelley’s original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. – from Penguin Classics.

Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus (1818), is a combination of Gothic horror story and science fiction. The book tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss student of natural science who creates an artificial man from pieces of corpses and brings his creature to life. Though it initially seeks affection, the monster inspires loathing in everyone who meets it. Lonely and miserable, the monster turns upon its creator, who eventually loses his life. — from Encyclopedia Britannica.

About the Author

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, (born Aug. 30, 1797, London, Eng.—died Feb. 1, 1851, London), English Romantic novelist is best known as the author of Frankenstein.

The only daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, she met the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1812 and eloped with him to France in July 1814. The couple were married in 1816, after Shelley’s first wife had committed suicide. After her husband’s death in 1822, she returned to England and devoted herself to publicizing Shelley’s writings and to educating their only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. She published her late husband’s Posthumous Poems (1824); she also edited his Poetical Works (1839), with long and invaluable notes, and his prose works. Her Journal is a rich source of Shelley biography, and her letters are an indispensable adjunct.

Mary Shelley’s best-known book is Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818, revised 1831), a text that is part Gothic novel and part philosophical novel; it is also often considered an early example of science fiction. It narrates the dreadful consequences that arise after a scientist has artificially created a human being. (The man-made monster in this novel inspired a similar creature in numerous American horror films.)

She wrote several other novels, including Valperga (1823), The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837); The Last Man (1826), an account of the future destruction of the human race by a plague, is often ranked as her best work. Her travel book History of a Six Weeks’ Tour (1817) recounts the continental tour she and Shelley took in 1814 following their elopement and then recounts their summer near Geneva in 1816. – from Encyclopedia Britannica

Read more about Frankenstein or Mary Shelley in Encyclopedia Britannica.

View the ICC Library’s LibGuide to learn more about Frankenstein: the 1818 Text.

Events

Community Leader Presentations

A leader from the Peoria area is invited to campus to speak about the importance of the theme in their work and personal life. (45 minutes)

Faculty Presentations

ICC faculty members use their specialized knowledge and experience to present information about the One Book, One College theme and/or selection. (45 minutes)

Selecting

Selections for One Book, One College are made by a team of librarians and faculty from several departments at ICC.

If you have a suggestion for next year’s read, please contact Amy Glass by email or call (309) 694-5748 or complete this online form.

Past Selections

2017-2018 The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams

2016-2017 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

2015-2016 March: Book One by John Lewis

2014-2015 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Contact Amy Glass by email or call (309) 694-5748 for more information.