The Art of Disruption: Society & the Supernatural

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Mary Shelley's ground-breaking novel Frankenstein, Christ's College Old Library presented our exhibition, 'The Art of Disruption: Society and the Supernatural', exploring the many ways in which writers have challenged convention using the strange, subversive, and chaotic world of the supernatural. Our exhibition examined many curious and disruptive supernatural forces: monsters and their evil, unnatural origins, witches who transgress and challenge social conventions, and mythical beasts who defy physical boundaries. We featured an array of library treasures, including Joseph Glanvill's book on witches and apparitions, our 1818 first edition of Frankenstein, Ovid's Metamorphoses (1640), and Edward Topsell's Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes (1607).