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Mary Shelley (1797–1851)

Author of Frankenstein

434+ Works 72,932 Members 1,203 Reviews 92 Favorited
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About the Author

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in England on August 30, 1797. Her parents were two celebrated liberal thinkers, William Godwin, a social philosopher, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a women's rights advocate. Eleven days after Mary's birth, her mother died of puerperal fever. Four motherless years show more later, Godwin married Mary Jane Clairmont, bringing her and her two children into the same household with Mary and her half-sister, Fanny. Mary's idolization of her father, his detached and rational treatment of their bond, and her step-mother's preference for her own children created a tense and awkward home. Mary's education and free-thinking were encouraged, so it should not surprise us today that at the age of sixteen she ran off with the brilliant, nineteen-year old and unhappily married Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley became her ideal, but their life together was a difficult one. Traumas plagued them: Shelley's wife and Mary's half-sister both committed suicide; Mary and Shelley wed shortly after he was widowed but social disapproval forced them from England; three of their children died in infancy or childhood; and while Shelley was an aristocrat and a genius, he was also moody and had little money. Mary conceived of her magnum opus, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, when she was only nineteen when Lord Byron suggested they tell ghost stories at a house party. The resulting book took over two years to write and can be seen as the brilliant creation of a powerful but tormented mind. The story of Frankenstein has endured nearly two centuries and countless variations because of its timeless exploration of the tension between our quest for knowledge and our thirst for good. Shelley drowned when Mary was only 24, leaving her with an infant and debts. She died from a brain tumor on February 1, 1851 at the age of 54. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:

(ita) Please don't combine Shelley with Mary Shelley. Yes, some people will have entered books this way, but it more commonly refers to her husband the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, with whom "Shelley" should also not be combined.

Please don't combine Shelley with Mary Shelley. There is more than one author with that surname.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was the author of "Frankenstein". Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was the author of "A vindication of the rights of woman" and has a separate author page.

Image credit: Portrait by Richard Rothwell (c.1840)

Series

Works by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein (1818) 50,750 copies, 811 reviews
Frankenstein (Enriched Classics) (2004) 2,484 copies, 45 reviews
Frankenstein (Norton Critical Editions) (1818) 2,467 copies, 28 reviews
The Last Man (1826) 1,995 copies, 46 reviews
Dracula / Frankenstein (1973) 531 copies, 1 review
Mathilda (1819) 454 copies, 13 reviews
Gris Grimly's Frankenstein (2013) 276 copies, 11 reviews
Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein (A Marvel Illustrated Novel) (1983) — Author — 272 copies, 6 reviews
The New Annotated Frankenstein (2017) 256 copies, 4 reviews
Mary and Maria and Matilda (1992) 247 copies, 2 reviews
Classic Horror Stories (2003) 200 copies, 1 review
Valperga (1823) 173 copies, 1 review
Transformation and Other Stories (2004) 143 copies, 5 reviews
The Annotated Frankenstein (1818) 141 copies, 2 reviews
The Original Frankenstein (1818) 138 copies, 3 reviews
Frankenstein (Oxford Bookworms) (1989) 133 copies, 27 reviews
The Essential Frankenstein (1993) 130 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein (Usborne Young Reading) (2008) 104 copies, 1 review
The Mary Shelley Reader (1990) 103 copies, 1 review
The Mortal Immortal [short story] (1833) 51 copies, 3 reviews
Frankenstein (Ignatius Critical Edition) (2008) 45 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein by Georges Bess (2021) 43 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein (Penguin Classics audiobook) (1994) 38 copies, 2 reviews
Proserpine and Midas (2005) 37 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein [Macmillan Readers] (2005) 25 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein (Classics Illustrated Deluxe) (2009) 24 copies, 2 reviews
The Pilgrims (2008) 20 copies, 3 reviews
Cuentos góticos (2006) 19 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein (Acting Edition) (1974) — Novel — 18 copies
The Monster Collection (2017) — Author — 18 copies
Falkner (1996) 17 copies
Frankenstein (Calico Illustrated Classics) (2010) 14 copies, 1 review
Tales of a Monster Hunter (1977) 14 copies
Frankenstein [adapted - Saddleback Classics] (1999) — Original Author — 13 copies
Frankenstein (novela gráfica) (2020) — Author — 11 copies, 1 review
Kärleksprövningen (2017) 11 copies, 1 review
Graphic Novel Classics: Frankenstein (2014) 10 copies, 1 review
Fantasmagoriana {Byron, et al.} (1998) — Contributor — 10 copies
Word Cloud Box Set: Brown (2015) 9 copies
The Dream (1831) 8 copies, 1 review
La noche de los monstruos (2012) 8 copies
The Heir of Mondolfo (2004) 8 copies
De grote horror omnibus (1983) 6 copies
Frankenstein resuturado (2018) 6 copies
[No title] 5 copies
Short Fiction 5 copies
Victor Frankenstein (2001) 5 copies
Tales and Stories (1891) 5 copies
The Last Man Volume II (2016) 5 copies
Frankenstein: Level 3, 1200 Wörter (2001) 4 copies, 2 reviews
Harrap's Frankenstein (2016) 4 copies
On Ghosts (2013) 4 copies
FRANKENSTEIN Gradifco (2015) 4 copies
FRANKENSTEIN -LB- NVO (2014) 4 copies
Metamorfosi. Racconti gotici (2006) 4 copies, 1 review
FRANKENSTEIN GALVANISED (2012) 3 copies, 1 review
The Last Man Volume III (2018) 3 copies
MARY SHELLEY'S JOURNAL. (1947) 3 copies
Amar y revivir (2020) 3 copies
The Last Man Volume I (2010) 3 copies
Frankestien 2 copies
Roger Dodsworth (2023) 2 copies
Béatrice Cenci (2000) 2 copies
Proserpine and Midas 2 copies, 1 review
The Mortal Immortal | The Evil Eye (2008) 2 copies, 1 review
Karanlik Yazilar (2020) 2 copies
Prosèrpina (2019) 2 copies
Frankenstein 2 copies
On Ghosts 2 copies
Frankenstein Manuscript (2018) 2 copies
Mary Shelley in Bath (2025) 2 copies
2008 1 copy
First Flight 1 copy
The Parvenue 1 copy
(all) 1 copy
IL SOGNO (2019) 1 copy
Classic Radio Sci-Fi (2014) 1 copy
Racconti scelti (2002) 1 copy
The Mourner (1830) 1 copy
The False Rhyme (1830) 1 copy
Smrtni besmrtnik (2022) 1 copy
Frankenstein 2 CDs (2006) 1 copy
Frankenstein — Author — 1 copy
El elegido (2022) 1 copy
Frankenstein (abridged) (2004) 1 copy, 1 review
Poemas (2021) 1 copy

Associated Works

Young Frankenstein [1974 film] (1974) — Original book — 901 copies, 12 reviews
The Book of Fantasy (1940) — Contributor — 735 copies, 15 reviews
Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection (2013) — Creator — 725 copies, 17 reviews
Three Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto / Vathek / Frankenstein (1968) — Contributor — 666 copies, 5 reviews
The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Contributor, some editions — 623 copies, 9 reviews
Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural (1985) — Contributor — 600 copies, 3 reviews
Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror (2014) — Contributor — 581 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein (Great Illustrated Classics) (1818) — Original Author — 532 copies, 1 review
Complete Poems of Keats and Shelley (1978) — Introduction, some editions — 344 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein (Classic Starts Series) (2006) — Story — 316 copies, 3 reviews
The Phantom of the Opera and Other Gothic Tales (2018) — Contributor — 301 copies, 1 review
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 4th Edition, Volume 2 (1979) — Contributor — 269 copies, 1 review
Chilling Horror Short Stories (2015) — Contributor — 229 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein: The Graphic Novel (2008) — Story — 228 copies, 17 reviews
Frankenstein (A Stepping Stone Book) (1982) — Story — 226 copies, 3 reviews
The Big Book of Classic Fantasy (2019) — Contributor — 223 copies, 3 reviews
Erotica: Women's Writing from Sappho to Margaret Atwood (1990) — Contributor — 182 copies
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein [1994 film] (1994) — Original novel — 181 copies
100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature, Volume 1 (2017) — Contributor — 175 copies
Classic Works from Women Writers (Leather-bound Classics) (2018) — Contributor — 172 copies
The Road to Science Fiction #1: From Gilgamesh to Wells (1977) — Contributor — 166 copies, 1 review
Dystopia Utopia: Short Stories (2016) — Contributor — 159 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein [1931 film] (1931) — Original book — 157 copies, 5 reviews
Isaac Asimov Presents : The Best Science Fiction of the 19th Century (1981) — Contributor — 155 copies, 2 reviews
The Book of Love (1998) — Contributor — 151 copies
Frankenstein (Treasury of Illustrated Classics) (2004) — Story — 148 copies
Strange Stories of the Supernatural (1980) — Contributor — 147 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein: A BabyLit Anatomy Primer (2014) — Contributor — 144 copies, 1 review
The Frankenstein Omnibus (1994) — Contributor — 121 copies, 2 reviews
The Lifted Veil: Women's 19th Century Stories (2005) — Contributor — 116 copies
The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein (1994) — Contributor — 113 copies, 1 review
Seven Masterpieces of Gothic Horror (1963) — Contributor — 111 copies, 1 review
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Graphic Revolve) (2007) — Original Author — 109 copies, 3 reviews
The Bride of Frankenstein [1935 film] (1935) — Original book — 106 copies, 3 reviews
I, Frankenstein [2014 film] (2014) — Original novel — 104 copies, 1 review
The Norton Book of Friendship (1991) — Contributor — 104 copies
Treasury Of Gothic & Supernatural (1981) — Contributor — 103 copies, 3 reviews
The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2000) — Contributor — 99 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein (Wishbone Classics) (1996) — Original Story — 98 copies, 1 review
The Treasury of the Fantastic (2001) — Contributor — 87 copies, 3 reviews
100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature, Volume 2 (2021) — Contributor — 80 copies
Swords & Steam Short Stories (Gothic Fantasy) (2016) — Contributor — 79 copies, 1 review
The Vampyre and Other Macabre Tales (2012) — Contributor — 77 copies
Promethean Horrors: Classic Stories of Mad Science (2019) — Contributor — 70 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein (Illustrated Classics Series) (1992) — Original Author — 67 copies, 1 review
In the Shadow of Frankenstein: Tales of the Modern Prometheus (2016) — Contributor — 58 copies, 1 review
The Portable Romantic Reader (1957) — Contributor — 56 copies
The Mammoth Book of Body Horror (Mammoth Books) (2012) — Contributor — 52 copies, 1 review
Masters of Horror (1968) — Contributor — 52 copies, 1 review
The Dreaming Sex (2010) — Contributor — 52 copies, 4 reviews
Ladies of the Gothics: Tales of Romance and Terror by the Gentle Sex (1975) — Contributor — 48 copies, 1 review
The nightmare reader, volume one (1973) — Contributor — 47 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein: A Pop-Up Book (2010) — Author — 47 copies
Heavy Weather: Tempestuous Tales of Stranger Climes (2021) — Contributor — 45 copies, 1 review
Essential Monster of Frankenstein, Vol. 1 (2004) — Contributor — 43 copies, 2 reviews
Classic Science Fiction Stories (2022) — Contributor — 42 copies, 1 review
Beyond the Curtain of Dark (1966) — Contributor — 42 copies
The Oxford Book of English Love Stories (1996) — Contributor — 41 copies
Flesh for Frankenstein [1973 film] (1973) — Original story — 39 copies, 1 review
Universal Classic Monsters 30-Film Collection (2014) — Author — 38 copies
The Bride [1985 film] (1985) — Original novel — 38 copies, 1 review
Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction (2011) — Contributor — 37 copies, 1 review
Visions of Tomorrow: An Interstellar Collection (1976) — Contributor — 37 copies
The Curse of Frankenstein [1957 film] (1957) — Original novel — 37 copies, 1 review
The Monster-Maker and Other Science Fiction Classics (2012) — Contributor — 36 copies
The eerie book (1898) — Contributor — 36 copies, 2 reviews
Twelve Gothic Tales (Oxford Twelves) (1998) — Contributor — 34 copies, 4 reviews
Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 32 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein: The True Story [1973 TV movie] (2006) — Original book — 31 copies
The Monster of Frankenstein (2015) — Contributor — 30 copies
Classics Illustrated: Frankenstein (1818) — Story — 28 copies, 1 review
Doomed Romances: Strange Tales of Uncanny Love (2024) — Contributor — 28 copies
Cuentos de amor victorianos (2004) — Contributor — 26 copies
Chills and Thrills: Tales of Terror and Enchantment (2001) — Contributor — 25 copies
The World's Greatest Books Volume 08 Fiction (2004) — Contributor — 24 copies
A Century of Thrillers from Poe to Arlen (First Series) (1934) — Contributor — 24 copies
Frankenstein: A Classic Pop-Up Tale (2009) — Author — 23 copies
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed [1969 film] (1969) — Original story — 23 copies
Masters of British Literature, Volume B (2007) — Contributor — 22 copies
A Quaint and Curious Volume: Tales and Poems of the Gothic (2019) — Contributor — 22 copies, 1 review
The Book of the Dead (1986) — Contributor — 22 copies
Great English Short Stories (1930) — Contributor — 21 copies, 1 review
The Heart of a Stranger: An Anthology of Exile Literature (2019) — Contributor — 21 copies
Frankenstein {abridged & adapted} (1978) — Original story — 20 copies
The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Short Stories (2004) — Contributor — 20 copies
Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy [2014 film] (2014) — Original novel — 19 copies
Horror by Lamplight (1993) — Contributor — 19 copies
The Second Book of Unknown Tales of Horror (1826) — Contributor — 15 copies
Frankenstein [2004 TV miniseries] (2004) — Original novel — 15 copies
Frankenstein [2025 film] (2025) — Original novel — 14 copies
Science fiction through the ages 1 (1966) — Contributor, some editions — 14 copies
Witches' Brew: Horror and Supernatural Stories by Women (1984) — Contributor — 13 copies
Classic Horror Omnibus: Vol.1 (1979) — Author — 12 copies
Frankenstein Alive, Alive! #1 (2012) — Contributor — 12 copies
Edwina Noone's Gothic Sampler (1966) — Contributor — 10 copies
Classic Pop-Ups: Frankenstein (2023) — Story — 9 copies
Frankenstein [2015 film] (2015) — Novel by — 9 copies
Enter at Your Own Risk: The End Is the Beginning (2014) — Contributor — 8 copies, 3 reviews
Disney Frankenstein, starring Donald Duck (2019) — Contributor — 8 copies
The Frankenstein Monster [1973] #1 — Contributor — 7 copies
Enter at Your Own Risk: Dreamscapes into Darkness (2015) — Contributor — 7 copies, 3 reviews
Suspense: A Treasury for Young Adults (1966) — Contributor — 6 copies
Learning to Be Human Short Stories (Gothic Fantasy) (2024) — Contributor — 6 copies
The Frankenstein Monster [1973] #4 — Contributor — 6 copies
Frankenstein Alive, Alive! #2 (2012) — Contributor — 6 copies
Faseskift : science fiction noveller : et udvalg (1984) — Author, some editions — 5 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein Alive, Alive! #3 (2014) — Contributor — 5 copies
19. Jahrhundert 1. Romantik (1983) — Contributor — 5 copies
The Frankenstein Monster [1973] #2 — Contributor — 3 copies
The Frankenstein Monster [1973] #3 — Contributor — 3 copies
Weird Tales Volume 20 Number 6, December 1932 (2016) — Contributor — 3 copies
Witchcraft II: The Temptress [1989 Film] (1989) — Actor — 3 copies
The Queen’s Story Book (1902) — Contributor — 3 copies
Strange Signposts (Anthology 15-in-1) (1966) — Contributor — 3 copies
Weird Tales Volume 20 Number 5, November 1932 — Contributor — 2 copies
The Nightmare Reader (1973) — Contributor — 2 copies
Famous Monsters Speak (1963) — Original characters — 2 copies
Weird Tales Volume 20 Number 4, October 1932 — Contributor — 2 copies
Witchcraft [1988 Film] (1988) — Actor — 2 copies
Marvel Classics Comics No. 20 — Story — 1 copy
The Monster of Frankenstein [1981 TV movie] (1981) — Original novel — 1 copy
Fifty Short Stories [Red Door Consulting] (2013) — Contributor — 1 copy
The princess's story book — Contributor — 1 copy
The King's Story Book — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

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Common Knowledge

Legal name
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
Other names
Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft (birth name)
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Birthdate
1797-08-30
Date of death
1851-02-01
Gender
female
Education
at home
Occupations
novelist
poet
editor
short story writer
essayist
Awards and honors
SF Hall Of Fame (Posthumous Inductee, 2004)
Relationships
Shelley, Percy Bysshe (husband)
Godwin, William (father)
Wollstonecraft, Mary (mother)
Clairmont, Claire (stepsister)
Short biography
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London, the daughter of two major English intellectuals and writers, Mary Wollstonecraft and her husband William Godwin. She fell in love with Percy Bysshe Shelley, a married man and father, and scandalized society by eloping with him in 1814. Two years later, they were married and in 1818, she published her most famous work, her first novel: Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. She also wrote several other novels, including Valperga (1823) and The Last Man (1826), as well as numerous novellas, short stories, poems, plays, essays, and articles for periodicals of the day, travel books, and a biography of her husband. At the time of Shelley's death in 1822, she was regarded as a major novelist married to a minor poet, but she spent 30 years promoting his work to help him achieve lasting fame.
Cause of death
brain tumour
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Somers Town, London, England, UK
Places of residence
London, England, UK
Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, Switzerland
Harrow, Middlesex, England, UK
Florence, Italy
Pisa, Italy
Place of death
London, England, UK
Burial location
St. Peter's Churchyard, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England, UK
Map Location
England, UK
Disambiguation notice
Please don't combine Shelley with Mary Shelley. There is more than one author with that surname.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was the author of "Frankenstein". Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was the author of "A vindication of the rights of woman" and has a separate author page.

Members

Discussions

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in Gothic Literature (January 13)
Morning Bell Editions - Frankenstein in Fine Press Forum (November 2025)
Frankestein in Easton Press Collectors (October 2024)
Terrible cover: Frankenstein in Good Show Sir! — bad science fiction and fantasy covers (July 2024)
Folio Archives 345: The Last Man by Mary Shelley 2012 in Folio Society Devotees (October 2023)
Folio Archives 310: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 2004 in Folio Society Devotees (February 2023)
Frankenstein LE 2022 in Folio Society Devotees (December 2022)
OT: Question about the 1823 edition of Frankenstein in Folio Society Devotees (September 2022)
Frankenstein Bicentennial group read in 2018 Category Challenge (January 2018)
Frankenstein: 1818 version in hardcover? in Thing(amabrarian)s That Go Bump in the Night (January 2008)

Reviews

1,275 reviews
A few themes I especially enjoyed this time:

1. Imagination and the Arctic. On the first page, Walton enthuses about the imagined North polar utopia beyond the region of ice: "there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered"; "I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited"; "I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of show more frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight." It's the perfect analogue of Victor's besetting ambition, and the first letter ends with Walton's remarks on the joys of sled travel, contrasting abruptly with the succeeding (indelible) image of the Monster driving his sled North. The polar regions are ready-made blank canvases for the imagination — c.f. Arthur Gordon Pym or The Thing, just for a start. Places of disorientation where compasses go haywire and horizons dissolve.

2. The young Shelley's sublimity. She's at pains here to play up Victor's annoying rationality, his anti-Romantic habit of analysis. This is in contrast to Elizabeth who is a pure poet. "While my companion [Elizabeth] contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things," Victor tells us, "I delighted in investigating their causes. The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine." Victor's tale is cautionary against the literal and rational. "Darkness had no effect upon my fancy" he reminisces — bad child, not frightened of bugaboos. Partly this is the fault of his permissive parents and liberal upbringing, his parents, "possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence," allow his unnatural childhood proclivities free rein; partly it's just the way he is. If we concentrated more on "simple pleasures", even the history of the New World would be less sad: "If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved; Cæsar would have spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed." Wow!

3. The horror. Amidst this novel's thematic smorgasbord, I think maybe we forget how disturbing it is. Shelley turns a couple of immaculate phrases in the service of the Weird — how about "who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay?" Bone-chilling! The way the Alpine lightning portends the Monster's reappearence in Victor's life! Or the image of the Monster lifting the curtain of Frankenstein's bed and peering in soon after having been animated! Unforgettable images. At the same time, isn't it the Monster's ugliness that's really the root of all his problems? If he weren't so misshapen and repulsive, he'd presumably be pitied and have no trouble fitting in what with his native intelligence, empathy, fidelity and good-heartedness. It's always his disfigurement that wrecks things for him. So, and not to deny the smorgasbord, isn't this at heart a simple tragedy about narrow-mindedness, petty cruelty, mistrust of the deformed or Other? Shut up, of course it isn't just that!

I had completely forgotten about the Irish interlude. Like Dracula, this novel is front-loaded: the Monster's tale which occupies the central section is kinda slow and soppy. But it works. Easily one of my favorite novels and hard to think of a more influential one, or rather, one with a bigger influence beyond literature.
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Uma experiência inigualável para quem nunca a experimentou: perturbadora, deprimente, mas também comovente e bonita, qualidades estas que têm resistido ao teste do tempo. É uma história que todos cremos conhecer e, na realidade, não conhecemos, a progenitora de inúmeros arquétipos encontrados na ficção científica e no gênero horror-gótico. Todos sabemos que Mary Shelley a escreveu em resposta a um desafio lançado por Lorde Byron durante umas férias na Suíça. O medo básico show more de que a tecnologia possa trazer o mal juntamente com o bem que traz é o tema central, assim como a mensagem de alerta contra brincar de interpretar o papel de Deus. A criatura é realmente inteligente e bem-falante, bastante diferente dos grunhidos inarticulados e meias frases ouvidas nos filmes extraídos do livro. Ela é no fundo uma criança tremendamente negligenciada, sem id nem superego, com força e inteligência para reagir em forma de contra-ataques. Presumption; or, The Fate of Frankenstein (1823) é a mais famosa adaptação para o palco. show less
Throughout, it is hard not to see some kind of inverse structural parallel to the story of Adam and Even being cast out of Eden. To see what I mean, imagine the iteration of knowledge (of good and evil) that stemmed from consuming the forbidden fruit and imagine the development of societies, technologies, and norms that stemmed from complexification and codifications of that knowledge. In such a modern society, it seems fair to say that our sense of self would be inextricably entailed in the show more social. Nobody is truly an unfettered individual that is not dependent, at some level, on others and on civil, modernized society. The narrator states at one point: "I was devoured by a restless wish to be something others" (p.39). Yes -- that seems like the outcome of our enculturation to society. And yet, that seems like a real problem for the Romantics of Mary Shelley's time, who valued a return to nature, emotion, and individualism. Our social context will not allow it.

The Last Man seems to imagine a return that natural, Edenic state, through the removal social structures and obligations via the extermination of the human race by plague. As the plague claims its victims, social institutions start to collapse: government, military, commerce, agriculture. Unfettered at last, what is the Romantic archetype individual to do? Well, the pursuits of individual reflection and self-discovery through writing and reading become a bit pointless. Our narrator again: "to read were futile -- to write, vanity indeed. The whole earth, late wide circus for the display of dignified exploits, vast theatre for a magnificent drama, now presented a vacant space, an empty stage" (p.308). It's boring here all by myself -- who am I going to tell about all the insights I've developed about myself?

Even as the last four people on earth wind down their last days, "seek[ing] some natural Paradise, some garden of the earth were our simple wants may be easily supplied" there is a grim recognition that, granted the ability to be truly individual and free of obligations to the grand social project, is a problem. At best they seek "the enjoyment of a delicious climate to compensate for the social pleasures we have lost" (p.312).

For as much as I often wish that I had more solitude, I'm sure that Shelley is correct in this speculation about how much of a bummer true and total individuality and isolation would be. This feels like it must be a theme in other castaway-type literature, and I almost makes me want to go back and read Robinson Crusoe to see if there are similar themes

This is a difficult book to enjoy and frequently I didn't. I was convinced that I was going to give it 2 star rating, but now that I have had a chance to reflect a bit, maybe 2.5 (rounded up).
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I love this book so much. I love how nature is described, how we can feel the monster's misery and desolation, as well as all the existential questions it poses.
I love how ambivalent one feels towards creator and creation: I like Victor's hunger for knowledge and at the same I emphatize with the monster. You don't bring life into this world to abandon it.
The monster's pleas also made me think of humans pleading to God(s) that left us to mend for ourselves. So incredibly sad yet so wonderful show more this book is.

"Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful."
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AP Lit (1)
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Awards

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Bernie Wrightson Illustrator
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Ambrose Bierce Contributor
E. F. Benson Contributor
Washington Irving Contributor
Henry James Contributor
Edgar Allan Poe Contributor
Miracle Studios Illustrator
Joseph Conrad Contributor
Elizabeth Gaskell Contributor
Dick Donovan Contributor
Sheridan Le Fanu Contributor
Ralph Adams Cram Contributor
William Mudford Contributor
John Green Illustrator
Trevor Murphy Narrator
Louisa May Alcott Contributor
Emily Brontë Contributor
Herman Melville Contributor
Dan Stevens Narrator
Charles E. Robinson Introduction
Kate MacCord Contributor
Alfred Nordmann Contributor
Josephine Johnston Contributor
Elizabeth Bear Contributor
Cory Doctorow Contributor
Anne K. Mellor Contributor
Ed Finn Editor
Heather E. Douglas Contributor
Jane Maienschein Contributor
Barry Jones Illustrator
Johann August Apel Contributor
Friedrich Laun Contributor
Fiona Sampson Foreword
Lord Byron Contributor
Victor Tavares Illustrator
Frazer Irving Illustrator
Gary Reed Adapted by
Philip Gooden Critical apparatus
Paddy Lyons Introduction
Max Simon Nordau Contributor
Charles Darwin Contributor
Maud Jackson Adapted by
Greg Wise Narrator
Robert Hill Activities by
風間 賢二 Editor, Translator, Afterword
Henry H. Harper Introduction
Sabine Werner Adapted by
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安野 玲 Translator
片岡 しのぶ Translator
Norio Itō Translator
杉浦 銀策 Translator
田中 誠 Translator
臼田 昭 Translator
中西 秀男 Translator
井上 一夫 Translator
池澤 夏樹 Translator
Masami Fukushima Translator
Barry Moser Illustrator
Guillermo del Toro Introduction
Paul Couturiau Translator
Philippe Munch Illustrator
Wendy Steiner Introduction
cuveliergeorges Traduction
Simon Vance Narrator
dhangestgermain Traduction
Chiara Zanolli Translator
bussaglipaolo Translator
alemanysilvia Translator
Aristedes Ruiz Cover artist
José C. Vales Traductor
Karl Bruno Leder Übersetzer
Diane Johnson Introduction
Heinz Witmann Übersetzer
Quim Monzó Translator
Marc Porée Commentaires
Lynd Ward Illustrator
Miranda Seymour Introduction
Jim Weiss Narrator
Dennis Wheatley Introduction
Sophie Brinkman Translator
Harry Brockway Illustrator
Malika Favre Cover designer
Oliver Munday Cover designer
Jamie Keenan Cover designer
widtmannheinz Übersetzer
Else Hoog Translator
Francis Lacassin Chronologie, introd., notes, archives de l'oeuvre et légende
Hermann Ebeling Afterword
Coralie Bickford-Smith Cover artist/designer
Maurice Hindle Introduction
Cori Samuel Narrator
Jeffrey Deaver Introduction
Christian Grawe Translator
Michael Hagemann Cover designer
Harold Bloom Afterword
Boris Kabur TÕlkija.
Karen Karbiener Introduction
Maria Paola Saci Introduction
Árpád Göncz Translator
Alain Morvan Traduction
Paavo Lehtonen Translator
Jaime Bell Narrator
Hannu Poutiainen Translator
David Pinching Afterword
Paul Buckley Cover artist & designer
Peter Mendelsund Cover designer
Gabrielle Bordwin Cover designer
Ursula Grawe Translator
Anna Pyk Translator
Bruno Tasso Translator
Silvio Antunha Translator
Phoebe Judge Narrator
Stephen King Introduction
Eleanor Taylor Cover artist
Ralph Tegtmeier Translator
Sarah Hall Introduction
Brian Aldiss Introduction
Judith Tarr Introduction
John Havard Introduction
Robert Matias Cover designer
Irina Philippi Translator
Stephen Fabian Cover artist
Marge Piercy Introduction
Robert Mathias Cover designer
Elizabeth Yaffe Cover designer
Silvia Cecchini Translator
Nathan Clair Cover artist
Johann Peterka Illustrator
Pamela Bickley Introduction
Frank Frazetta Cover artist
Janet Todd Editor
Harvey Parker Illustrator
Anthony Marks Introduction
Ron Tiner Illustrator
John Grant Editor
Christopher Bing Illustrator
Claire Tomalin Introduction
Marc Poree Commentaires
Michael Bishop Introduction
Elizabeth Story Cover designer
Thea Kliros Illustrator
Gianni De Conno Illustrator
Tithi Luadthong Cover artist
田島 照久 Cover artist
Emily Eiden Narrator
Tom Shelton Narrator
Andrew Eiden Narrator

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