Frankenstein: A Cultural History

Original airdate: October 26, 2007

Everyone knows Frankenstein, that flattopped green monster with the stiff walk and bolts in his neck. Whether it’s Boris Karloff playing him in the classic film or a cartoon version chasing Scooby-Doo, the creature is an instantly recognizable classic.

But who is he really? And where did he come from?

Susan Tyler Hitchcock tackles the mystery, armed with tons of cultural, literary, cinematic and historical clues. The result is a definitive portrait of the macabre creation which has stumbled through our subconscious in films from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” to “Young Frankenstein.”

“This is our monster,” Hitchcock writes. “To know him is to know ourselves.”

Listen to the show:

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