Issue date: April, 10, 2003

MSU, East Lansing to read 'Frankenstein'

By Kristan Tetens

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” a classic of world literature about a scientist whose experiments to create a human being unleash a monster, will be required reading for MSU freshmen this fall and the centerpiece of the second annual “One Book, One Community” program sponsored by the university’s Office of the Provost and the City of East Lansing.

The program gets under way on Sunday, Aug. 24, with two weeks of special events for new students.

A community kick-off gala will take place the week of Sept. 7. A full slate of campus and community programming for all students and residents, including reading groups, panel discussions, seminars, lectures, special dinners and a film series, will run through Oct. 3.

The novel also will be used in selected courses at MSU and East Lansing High School.

A complete schedule of events will be available at www.onebook.msu.edu beginning Aug. 1.

The annual “One Book, One Community” program encourages members of the MSU and East Lansing community to read the same book over the same period of time and to come together to discuss it in a variety of settings.

Although dozens of similar programs have been sponsored nationwide, this is one of the very few that brings together a city and a university.

Last year, the program featured Ray Bradbury’s science fiction masterpiece “Fahrenheit 451.” This fall will be the first time the university has required a substantial pre-academic year reading for all incoming students, said June Youatt, assistant provost for undergraduate education at MSU.

“Of the many experiences that students encounter at Michigan State, one of the most important is the sometimes unsettling one of learning to think in new ways about difficult and controversial subjects,” she said.

“The ‘One Book’ program is intended to build an intellectual and social rapport among students, faculty, staff and community members through the collective experience of reading, thinking and discussing a challenging text that raises important social issues.”

Copies of the novel will be made available to more than 6,500 incoming freshmen at their summer academic orientation programs. They will be asked to read it before they arrive on campus in August, when they will participate in discussions and a variety of other planned activities. Other students, faculty and staff and community members will be able to borrow the book from the East Lansing Public Library or purchase it at a discount from area bookstores.

“‘Frankenstein’ is a novel that invites reflection on a number of issues in the sciences social sciences, and humanities from concerns about the morality of cloning and other biotechnologies to questions about the nature of creativity, human relationships and life itself,” said Sylvia Marabate, director of the East Lansing Public Library.