Literature / Writers Datebook: August 30
Brief biography of Mary Shelley, English horror writer, best known as the author of the novel Frankenstein.
Early Life of Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley (b. August 30, 1797, London - d. February 1, 1851, London), was the daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Her father was a political writer and novelist who had revolutionary attitudes to most social institutions, including marriage. Her mother, also a famous writer, was one of the first feminists who died 11 days after Mary's birth. She was educated at home, where she met her father's literary friends.
Marital life with Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley
In 1814, Mary began a romance with one of her father's political
followers, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was already married. at the age of 16, Mary eloped with Shelley. Together with
her stepsister, Claire Clairmont,
she and Percy left for France and traveled through Europe. Upon their
return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy's child, a daughter. Over the next
two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt and the death of
their prematurely born daughter who eventually died in Venice. They married in late 1816, after the
suicide of Percy Shelley's first wife, Harriet. They returned to England, where their son William was born. However, tragedy seemed never far away from their lives, for after their return to Italy, William died in 1819.
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's Masterpiece
Mary Shelley's first novel Frankenstein was published in 1818 when she was 21. In the style of the gloomy and sinister gothic novels, it deals with the ambitions of a young scientist to be the creator of life, the horrors that follow his experiment, and his destruction by the monster he creates. Frankenstein was immediately successful and has retained fascination, becoming the subject of many movies and plays.
Later Years
After her husband's death in 1822, Mary Shelley returned to England. Her second novel, Valperga, was published when she was 26. She also wrote accounts of her travels, verse, and few more novels, including one set in the future about the destruction of the human race, The Last Man. Recent scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary
output, particularly in her novels, but none achieved the success of Frankenstein to this day.
Works by Mary W. Godwin Shelley
History of a Six Weeks' Tour 1817
Frankenstein 1818
Valperga 1823
The Last Man 1823
The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck 1830
Lodore 1835
Falkner 1837
Rambles in Germany and Italy 1844
The Journals of Mary Shelley (2 Vols) 1987 (Published after she died)
Photo Credit:
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain. (Richard Rothwell's portrait
of Shelley was shown at the Royal Academy in 1840, accompanied by lines
from Percy Shelley's poem The Revolt of Islam calling her a "child of
love and light".)
Resources:
Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994
McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002
Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Uglow, Jennifer, Compiler & Editor, revised by Maggy Hendry. The Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography, 3rd Edition. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1999
(c) August, 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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