It's Alive Celebrating 200 Years of Frankenstein
Guide created as a supplement for the Bicentennial activities based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Read More
Read More about the Eruption that caused the "Year Without a Summer".
- A Volcanic Eruption That Reverberates 200 Years LaterArticle from New York Times
Year Without a Summer...
A Challenge and a Young Woman's Nightmare
In 1816, a volcanic eruption brought about abnormally colder temperatures in much of the Northern Hemisphere. Temperatures went as low as 40 degrees below normal, snow and sleet fell in June, crops froze, and many perished due to harsh conditions. This abnormally cold summer was in effect when Byron challenged a group of friends and colleagues to "each write a ghost story".
Mary Shelley was one of those guests, and a nightmare prompted her to lay down the beginnings of what would become, Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus.
*Map of unusual cold temperatures in Europe during the summer of 1816. Credit: Creative Commons, authored by Giorgiogp2