Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley (1797-1851) is an English writer, mostly known for her gothic novel Frankenstein, which she wrote after a rainy summer spent with her lover Percy Shelley and Lord Byron near Lake Geneva.
Short biography
Mary Shelley is the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin, considered to be one of the precursors of anarchism, and of the feminist writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary's mother dies when she is eleven days old, and she is raised by her father. When she is seventeen, she falls in love with one of her father's acquaintances, the poet Percy Shelley. Together, with her half-sister Claire Clairmont, and her lover, they travel to Europe. Early 1815 she is pregnant, gives birth to a premature baby, and loses him. In the meantime, her lover Percy has an affair with her half-sister Claire. During the summer of 1815, she and Percy travel to Lake Geneva where they stay at Lord Byron's residence. This is where she starts writing Frankenstein. Following the suicide of Percy's first wife, Mary and Percy marry in late 1816. In 1818 they leave England for Italy. Mary loses her second and third child, but Mary gives birth to Florence, her son. Her husband Percy then drowns in 1822. She returns to England, and dedicates her life to raising her son, to publishing and promoting her husband's works, and also on her own writing career. The last ten years of her life will be spent fighting illness. She dies of a brain tumour in 1851.
A few interesting facts about Mary's life
Mary was raised with her half-sister, the child that her mother had had over the course of an extramarital affair with an American speculator. Interestingly, her father William Godwin published his Memoirs where he made the apology of woman's rights, of his wife, and revealed the affair that she had. Mary was raised adoring the memory of her late mother. Her father remarried. His new wife, Mary Godwin, was disliked by his children, including Mary, who was raised with her step sister, Claire, with whom her future husband will have an affair a few years later. Claire Clairmont would also become Lord Byron's lover. In order to alleviate his conscience (?), Percy tried to arrange for his friend Hogg and Mary his mistress to become lovers. Mary was haunted by the loss of her child. A few months later she conceived Frankenstein.
Mary Shelley is also the author of numerous short stories, and other books such as “Mathilda”, “The last man”, “Falkner”, but also travel narratives, poems, children's books... Gender bias had put her in the shadow of her late husband, twentieth century feminism brought her back to her rightful place.
© 2013- Les Éditions de Londres
Livres publiés
Frankenstein
par Mary Shelley
ISBN : 978-1-909782-36-5
Date de parution : 17 novembre 2013
Nombre de pages : 264 pages“Frankenstein” is a novel written by Mary Shelley published in 1818 by a small London publishing house, Lackington, Hughes, Harding. Mary Shelley was nineteen when she wrote the novel. “Frankenstein” is a gothic novel with romantic overtones whose creature became more famous than its author. (...)
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