Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Mary W. Shelley
British novelist, born 1797, died 1851.
Short Bio
Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of The Rights of Women,
and William Godwin, who wrote “An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice”,
born in 1797. Was brought up by her father, her mother having died
shortly after giving birth. This brought her into contact with
her father's circle, including Percy Bysshe Shelley who she later
married. On a dark and stormy night in Switzerland, Mary Shelley,
Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori agreed to each
write a ghost story. The result was Polidori's The Vampyre, which
is nearly forgotten today, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or
the Modern Promtheus—written when she was 19. This novel
about the creation of artifical life and the ethics of science
has remained in print ever since.
Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley continued to write novels, but never recaptured the success
of her first novel.
Writings
- History of Six Week's Tour, 1817 (with Percy Pysshe Shelley)
- Frankenstein; or the modern Prometheus, 1818
- Valperga, 1823
- The Last Man, 1826
- Matilda, 1959
Movies
- Frankenstein, 1910 (Edison Company)
- Frankenstein, 1931 (directed by James Whale, Boris Karloff as the Monster)
- Bride of Frankenstein, 1935 (directed by James Whale, Karloff reprising his role as the monster; Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley).
- The Curse of Frankenstein, 1957 (directed by Terence Fisher, Christopher Lee as the monster)
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, 1994 (directed by Kenneth Branagh, Robert de Niro as the monster)
Links