Date of Award

6-26-2026

Date Published

August 2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Religion

Advisor(s)

William Robert

Keywords

Frankenstein;Language;Mary Shelley;Materiality;Monstrosity;Relationality

Abstract

This dissertation looks at Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein as a prime example of the ways character relations and narrative form can invite both characters and readers to renegotiate the boundaries of monstrosity and humanity, how our notions of such monstrosity and humanity are constituted dynamically, through relationships, and how this negotiation is itself a religious relational dynamic. By closely reading Mary Shelley’s novel, I consider three main facets of the work: the epistolary frame of the novel as a series of letters and stories relayed between characters, the practice of naming that takes place within the novel, and the ways touch figures as an epistemological practice of knowing the self and the other. Ultimately, this project insists upon the importance of studying relation within fiction as a way of studying religion—specifically insofar as fictional relation involves very real and very imaginative processes of renegotiating the boundaries of humanity and monstrosity.

Access

Open Access

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