The first ever public lecture organised by the University of Nottingham's new Centre for Byron Studies will explore the influence of Nottinghamshire's literary giant on one of the most famous horror stories of all time, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The Centre for Byron Studies was established in 1999 to coincide with the establishment of the Prew-Smith Byron Lectureship, made possible by a generous private donation. The Centre aims to provide a forum for research on Byron and Romanticism, for academic researchers, graduate students and visiting speakers. The inaugural lecture will be given on March 22 by a world authority on Byron and the Shelleys, Charles Robinson, who is Professor of English at the University of Delaware and executive director of the Byron Society of America.
Admission is free and the public are very welcome.
Byron Centre Director Dr Adriana Craciun said the Centre, which is located with the University's School of English Studies, promised to be a significant centre for research and publication on Byron and Romanticism. Dr Craciun said Byron's influence on European literature and beyond was becoming increasingly recognised and the Centre aimed to contribute to the growing re-evaluation of Byron himself, and his literary circles. The story behind Byron's links to the writing of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is itself a fascinating one, which the inaugural lecture will fully explore. Mary's contribution was the most remarkable by all accounts Frankenstein , a novel central to the science fiction and Gothic traditions, immensely popular in her day and in ours. Byron and the Shelleys shared a period of intense creativity together.