A Book - A Place: Geneva cover art

A Book - A Place: Geneva

A Book - A Place: Geneva

By: Robin Pomeroy
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About this listen

 Part history podcast, part travel guide, always a great story.

A Book - A Place: Geneva takes you to unexpected places in an often city that has a unique place in history.

Frankenstein and comic books were born here. Revolutionaries plotted. An enlightenment superstar had good reason to have houses in and just outside Geneva. And science fiction fans became real scientists at the home of the world's greatest science experiment here.

Whether you're a visitor, a newcomer, or a long-time resident, this podcast will take you to corners of the city where history was (and is still being) made.Robin Pomeroy 2024 Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary World
Episodes
  • Frankenstein: a monster rises on the shores of Lake Geneva

    Frankenstein: a monster rises on the shores of Lake Geneva
    Jun 16 2025
    Part book club, part travel guide, part history podcast, Season 1 of A Book - A Place: Geneva takes you on five literary adventures.Episode 1: Frankenstein: a monster is born on the shore of Lake GenevaThe book: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelly, published in 1818The place: ‘Frankie’ a.k.a ‘The Creature of Doctor Frankenstein’ statue in Plainpalais, Geneva by KLAT, 2014Everyone knows something about Frankenstein, the archetype horror movie monster.But what about the birth of the story, which is now seen as perhaps the first horror novel, the first work of what would become known as science fiction, and, for today’s readers, still one of the most thought provoking tales about artificial intelligence.As we’ll hear, Frankenstein was born, not in a mad scientist’s laboratory, but in a genteel villa on the outskirts of genteel Geneva.More books:Mary, or the Birth of Frankenstein, by Anne Eekhout, 2023, novel mentioned in the podcastLe Genève de Victor Frankenstein, by Augusta Dunsterville, 2016: good guide for walking tours around places linked to FrankensteinAll the Parts of the Soul, Quill & Crow, 2023, novel by Catherine Fearns, who features in the podcastHistory of a Six Weeks’ Tour through a part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland, 1817, memoir by Mary and Percy ShelleyMore places:Villa Diodati, where Byron and his retinue stayed in 1816Byron’s Field (Le Pré Byron), next to Villa DiodatiLe Salève, (mountain that overlooks Geneva, accessible by cable car)Chamonix, ‘capital city of the French Alps’, where Victor meets the monsterEven more…Penguin Random House page on FrankensteinLake Geneva as Shelley and Byron Knew It – New York Times‘Frankenstein’ Was Born During a Ghastly Vacation – History.comIn the footsteps of the Shelleys: Switzerland and Mont Blanc – Wordsworth.orgGhost stories, opium and rain: the doomed holiday that inspired Shelley’s Frankenstein – PenguinBright city, dark legend: how Geneva gave birth to Frankenstein – FLUX magazineFind out more at abookaplace.com and get the podcast on any app via this link: https://pod.link/nLARmR
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • A Book - A Place Geneva Ep1 Frankenstain trailer long

    A Book - A Place Geneva Ep1 Frankenstain trailer long
    Jun 13 2025
    Everyone knows something about Frankenstein, the archetype horror movie monster.

    But what about the birth of the story, which is now seen as perhaps the first horror novel, the first work of what would become known as science fiction, and, for today’s readers, still one of the most thought provoking tales about artificial intelligence?

    As we’ll hear, Frankenstein was born, not in a mad scientist’s laboratory, but in a genteel villa on the outskirts of genteel Geneva.

    This is a trailer for Episode 1 of A Book - A Place: Geneva, part travel guide, part book club, part history podcast. Find out more at abookaplace.com
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    3 mins
  • A Book - A Place: Geneva - Ep 1 Frankenstein trailer short

    A Book - A Place: Geneva - Ep 1 Frankenstein trailer short
    Jun 13 2025
    Part history podcast, part travel guide, ‘A Book – A Place: Geneva’ brings you the surprising places and stories that changed Geneva and the world.

    In this episode: we all know something about Frankenstein - but do you know the amazing story of its birth in Geneva?

    Visit: abookaplace.com
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    1 min
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