galvanism

Hatch Escapes fictionalized Shelley’s research process for “Frankenstein,” having her in the game study under a scientist to learn about anatomy and galvanism.

The term's namesake, Luigi Galvani, believed that galvanism confirmed his theory of a form of energy called "animal electricity" that gives living things their life force.

Initially unable to come up with an idea, Mary Shelley then had a “waking dream” in which she imagined a corpse reanimated by “galvanism,” or electricity.

Writing her imaginary story of a being jolted to life by Victor Frankenstein, Mary drew on the cutting-edge science of her time, including galvanism and electricity.

She explicates how trailblazing discoveries in galvanism, chemistry and anatomy helped to form the bones of the book, while its heart beat to the rhythm of Shelley’s radical intellectual lineage and milieu.