ENGL 479W: Technoromanticism

Think about the following quotation from Shelley Jackson’s “Stitch Bitch” in relation to any of the texts we have studied so far: “I don’t want to lose the self, only to strip it of its claim to naturalness, its compulsion to protect its boundaries, its obsession with wholeness and its fear of infection. I would like to invent a new kind of self which doesn’t fetishize so much, grounding itself in the dearly-loved signs and stuff of personhood, but has poise and a sense of humor, changes directions easily, sheds parts and assimilates new ones.”

Here are some ideas for a post about Patchwork Girl:

1. What is the meaning and significance of monstrosity in Patchwork Girl?

2. What does Patchwork Girl have to say about identity?

3. Elsewhere, Shelley Jackson has written: “Hypertext . . . is what literature has edited out: the feminine. (That is not to say that only women can produce it. Women have no more natural gift for the feminine than men do.)” What position does Patchwork Girl take about writing and about hypertext as a technology of writing?

4. How would you position Patchwork Girl in relation to the other versions of Frankenstein that we have discussed? Which is it closest to, and why? Which is it furthest from? Can it help us see the novel in a new light?

The floor is now open for comments addressing any aspect of Patchwork Girl that you think of as important.

The blog is open for posts comparing at least two of the movies in terms of what you see as a central issue that they address.

How should we understand the Bride’s final shreik?

How should we understand Elizabeth’s self-immolation at the end of the movie?

Does Frankenstein indict technology? If so, why? If not, why not?

Who is the hero of Frankenstein?

Jackson, Patchwork Girl

Wollstonecraft, Vindication; Harraway, Cyborg Manifesto