Real Frankenstein?

Real Frankenstein?

When I was listening to NPR this weekend there was a great segment on Radiolab called “Guts.” Yes, part of my fascination was my own personal Crohn’s disease (segment 3 of radio lab) and my literary crush on Mary Roach (author of Stiff). The whole piece is really interesting, but it was the 1822 army surgeon, William Beaumont (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Beaumont), 5 minutes in to the show that sounded to me very much like Victor Frankenstein. If that section of the piece does nothing else, it better situates Shelley’s main character by relating him to another scientist who was performing experiments on humans (well really just this poor guy, Alexis St. Martin) during the same time period. Fair warning, this show is not for those with a weak stomach. Would love to discuss it further if anyone wants.