Metaphors and monsters

Neither poetry nor creativity, neither technology nor experimentation, are what or where they used to be. Metaphor and monstrosity, as manifested by the power and pervasiveness of code in information theory, biotechnological practice and cultural representation, are tellingly transformed in the shift from modernity to hypermodernity. Frankenstein, an inaugural and persistent myth of modern monstrosity, continues to inform and disturb popular fascinations and scientific research: its currency, its monstrous metaphorical resonance, when associated with genetics and technology, raise far‐reaching questions concerning the imbrication of human norms, esthetic productions, scientific power and any vision of a future.