De-contextalize Literary Studies: Ontological Turn and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Abstract

Ontological turn challenges the humanistic studies which has been deeply immersed in linguistic turn. Graham Harman and Quentin Meillasoux, the representative thinkers, argue that thing/object/reality exist for itself, regardless of its contexts, relations, or co-relations. Harman says that literary critics should see how text/thing withstand its contexts and environment or even culture, and Meillasoux argues that reality is an absence of reason and we can get to it only by a narrative which is disconnected from every logic and predictable law. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein can be read in terms of what these ontological thinkers say. The monster in the text is an excellent example of ‘thing itself.’ Its narrative is about disconnections and disruptions, exemplifying Meillasoux’s idea of “extro-science fiction.”