<strong>More Than a Monster: Reading Frankenstein with Hanna Bervoets &amp; Martijntje Smits </stron

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In 1818, Mary Shelley then just 19 years old, wrote a ground-breaking book that has inspired countless Hollywood movies until this day. In many aspects, Frankenstein is both a literary masterpiece as well as a pioneering text in a genre that would only gain a name decades later: science fiction. The book presents a provocative dialogue about how we should deal with the progress of technology, predicting not just the great expectations, but also the profound fears machines inspire. On the night of Friday 14 December, novelist Hanna Bervoets and philosopher and engineer Martijntje Smits shared their fascination for Frankenstein. Why is Shelley’s book such a masterpiece, and why is it still highly relevant today? Each read a personal selection from the novel, kicking off a joint discussion that also included the audience. Moderator was psychiatrist, writer and theatre actor Damiaan Denys. (Duch spoken.)

Event curated by Shervin Nekuee (Writers Unlimited)
Books for sale courtesy of De Vries Van Stockum

Information

Date and time Friday 14 December 2018 from 20:30 to 22:00 hrs
Location Podium B - Centrale Bibliotheek Den Haag, Spui 68, 5e etage

Line-up

Hanna Bervoets

(The Netherlands, 1984) is a writer of novels, screenplays, plays, short stories and essays on media and popular (online) culture. Bervoets made her debut in 2009 with Of hoe waarom (Or How Why), followed two years later by Lieve Céline (Dear Céline), which was awarded the Opzij Literature Prize. A year later, the bestseller Alles wat er was (Everything That Was) was published, followed by Efter (2014), Ivanov (2016), Fuzzie (2017) and Welkom in het Rijk der zieken (Welcome to the Kingdom of the Sick) (2019). In 2017, Bervoets won the BNG Bank Literature Prize for Ivanov, and in the same year she also won the Frans Kellendonk Prize for her entire oeuvre. In 2021, her first collection of short stories, Een modern verlangen (A Modern Desire), was published and awarded the J.M.A. Biesheuvel Prize. In 2025, her tenth novel, Geld verdienen (Earning Money), was published. When Ellie and Freya each need money for their own reasons, they decide to take control of the stock market. After all, don't they deserve to be rich too?

Go to the website of Hanna Bervoets
Instagram: @hannabervoets
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Martijntje Smits

is a philosopher of technology, an engineer, and a scholar in innovation sciences. She works as a researcher and lecturer at various universities and institutes. As a philosopher of technology, she focuses on tech and the future, and her work questions the way technological visions of the future are taken for granted. Smits has written several books about technology and robotics, among them Monsterbezwering, de culturele domesticatie van nieuwe technologie (2002; Taming monsters: the cultural domestication of technology). Recently, she edited and co-authored the essay collection Robot Love, which coincided with the exhibition of the same name in Eindhoven, and later this year will see the release of her book Frankensteins blinde vlek (working title; Frankenstein’s blind spot).
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Damiaan Denys

(1965) is a prominent psychiatrist, neuroscientist, writer and theatre actor. Born in Flanders, he works and lives in The Netherlands. He studied philosophy and medicine in Belgium, graduated in psychiatry from Utrecht University, and worked as head of anxiety disorders of UMC Utrecht. He is a professor at the University of Amsterdam and department head of psychiatry at AMC Amsterdam. Denys developed Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a method to master compulsive thoughts. In his book Angstparadox (Anxiety Paradox, 2016) he states: "If there is a single word that holds the essence of the world in which we live now, of what guides us and of what holds us back, it is anxiety." Denys writes and acts in theatre monologues, among them Van angst naar vrijheid (From Anxiety to Freedom, 2016), which is "about the sense and nonsense of our contemporary culture of anxiety".
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