Mary Shelley (1797–1851)
Author of Frankenstein
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
Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein (A Marvel Illustrated Novel) (1983) — Author — 272 copies, 6 reviews
Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds (2017) 166 copies, 1 review
Four Gothic Novels: The Castle of Otranto; Vathek; The Monk; Frankenstein (1764) 134 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein: A Kaplan SAT Score-Raising Classic (Kaplan Score Raising Classics) (2004) 124 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein (Pretty Books - Painted Editions) (Harper Muse Classics: Painted Editions) (2022) — Author — 99 copies
Frankenstein / The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Townsend Library Edition) (2005) 77 copies
The Mortal Immortal: The Complete Supernatural Short Fiction of Mary Shelley (1996) 45 copies, 1 review
History of a Six Weeks' Tour through a part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland (1817) 42 copies, 3 reviews
Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus, with Related Readings (Glencoe Literature Library) (2000) 25 copies
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde / The Secret Sharer / Transformation: Three Tales of Doubles (2008) — Contributor — 23 copies, 2 reviews
Frankenstein, Or, the Modern Prometheus: With Supplementary Essays and Poems from the Twentieth Century (1988) 23 copies, 1 review
Reading & Training : Mary Shelley : Frankenstein [book + sound recording] (2003) — Writer — 18 copies
Frankenstein Diaries: The Romantics: The Secret Memoirs of Mary Shelley (Volume 1) (2015) 17 copies, 1 review
Frankenstein - Kid Classics: The Classic Edition Reimagined Just-for-Kids! (Kid Classic #2) (1) (2021) 16 copies
The Complete Frankenstein: 200-year Edition: Including both the 1818 and 1831 Versions, and Bonus Chapter: Farewell, Dear Prometheus (2017) 15 copies
Frankenstein: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) (2000) 15 copies
El mortal inmortal: Y otras fantasías góticas (El Club Diógenes) (Spanish Edition) (1994) 11 copies, 1 review
1984 (Signet Classics) 11 copies
Frankenstein: Unabridged and Unadapted from the Original Text, and With Thirteen Related Readings (2002) 10 copies
Frankenstein and the Critics (Illustrated. Includes full text of 'Frankenstein 1818.') (2014) — Contributor — 9 copies
Frankenstein. Ein Schauerroman: Das Meisterwerk der englischen Romantik gebunden in Cabra-Leder mit Goldprägung: 20 (2023) 7 copies
[No title] 5 copies
Short Fiction 5 copies
Ghostly Tales from the Lost Summer of 1816 - Frankenstein, The Vampyre & Other Stories from the Villa Diodati (2019) 5 copies
Frankenstein I by Mary Shelley - Del Prado Miniature (The Miniature Classics Library) (2003) 4 copies
Frankeinstein. Material Auxiliar. Educacion Secundaria (Aula Literària) - 9788431671198 (2009) 4 copies
Best of Gothic Horror: The Edgar Allan Poe Collection, Dr Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde (Literate Listener) (2000) 4 copies
Frankenstein II by Mary Shelley - Del Prado Miniature (The Miniature Classics Library) (2003) 4 copies
The Frankenstein Notebooks: A Facsimile Edition of Mary Shelley's Manuscript Novel, 1816-17 (1996) 3 copies
Dracula + Frankenstein + Phantom of the Opera (HORROR CLASSICS, 3 Volume Matched Set) (1965) 3 copies
Frankenstein: A play in two acts 3 copies
Die Geschichte des Doktor Frankenstein und seines Mord Monsters oder Die Allgewalt der Liebe: Von der Mensch-Maschine zur Gewalt-Maschine (1975) 3 copies
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Annotated and Illustrated: The Uncensored 1818 Text with Maps, Essays, and Analysis (Oldstyle Tales' Gothic Novels) (2017) 3 copies
The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814-1844: 1814-1822 (Journals of Mary Shelley, July, 1814-1822) (1987) 3 copies
Frankenstein. Level B1. Helbling Readers Blue Series. Classics. Con espansione online. Con CD-Audio (2020) 3 copies
The Complete Novels of Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, The Last Man, Valperga, The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck, Lodore & Falkner (2017) 3 copies
LibriVox Horror Story Collection 005 3 copies
Mary Shelley: Complete Edition With Works Including, Frankenstein, The Last Man, Mathilda And Proserpine & Midas (Annotated) (2014) 3 copies
Frankenstein and Others: The Complete Weird Fiction of Mary Shelley (Classics of Gothic Horror) (2018) 3 copies
Easy Classics: Frankenstein 2 copies
Frankestien 2 copies
Frankenstein [Short Story] 2 copies
Book 9788866487586 2 copies
Frankenstein (Illustrated) for kids: Adapted for kids aged 9-11 Grades 4-7, Key Stages 2 and 3 by Lazlo Ferran (2018) 2 copies
The Ghost of the Private Theatricals 2 copies
Frankenstein 2 copies
On Ghosts 2 copies
Frankenstein (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) 2nd (second) edition Text Only (2000) 2 copies
Frankenstein, 1818 & 1831 Edition 2 copies
2008 1 copy
The Complete Poems 1 copy
O MISTÉRIO DA IMOETALIDADE 1 copy
First Flight 1 copy
The Creature Lives! 1 copy
The Reanimated Englishman 1 copy
O MISTÉRIO DA IMORTALIDADE 1 copy
The Parvenue 1 copy
The Monster Collection 1 copy
(all) 1 copy
Франкенштейн 1 copy
Frankenstein (Abridged Audiobook Edition - Not to be combined with complete Unabridged editions) 1 copy
Mary Shelley 1781-1851 bio 1 copy
Shelley, Mary Archive 1 copy
The keepsake for 1832 1 copy
Frankenstein - Stage 4 1 copy
The Brother and Sister 1 copy
Frankenstein, Story Book Grade 4: Steck-Vaughn Short Classics, Student Reader 5pk (Short Classics Set 1) (1991) 1 copy
La véritable histoire de Frankenstein : Collection : Bibliothèque poche rouge cartonnée (1976) 1 copy
Mary Shelley: The Ultimate Collection (All 7 Novels including Frankenstein, Short Stories, Bonus Audiobook Links & More) (2014) 1 copy
The Geneva Collection Frankenstein by Mary Shelley The Vampyre, by John Polidori (Classroomclassics) (2011) 1 copy
Frankestein - second level 1 copy
A Tale of the Passions 1 copy
Recollections of Italy 1 copy
The Bride of Modern Italy 1 copy
The Sisters of Albano 1 copy
Ferninando Eboli 1 copy
The Swiss Peasant 1 copy
Autograph letter signed 1 copy
Viaggio in Italia 1 copy
Frankenstein. Ediz. a colori 1 copy
Frankenstein, audio abridged 1 copy
Tales of the Dark Romantics and Beyond: Tales of the Dark Romantics — Contributor — 1 copy
A Cold and Stormy Summer: Frankenstein, The Vampyre, and other writings inspired by Geneva, Switzerland in 1816 (2012) 1 copy
Frankenstein (Adapted) 1 copy
Frankenstein by John Grant 1 copy
Spinebreakers Frankenstein 1 copy
Frankenstein — Author — 1 copy
Journals of Mary Shelley: Part II: July 1822-1844 (Journals of Mary Shelley, July 1822-1844) (1987) 1 copy
Racconti gotici 1 copy
Associated Works
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
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 4th Edition, Volume 2 (1979) — Contributor — 269 copies, 1 review
The Graphic Canon, Vol. 2: From "Kubla Khan" to the Brontë Sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray (2012) — Contributor — 210 copies, 2 reviews
Isaac Asimov Presents : The Best Science Fiction of the 19th Century (1981) — Contributor — 155 copies, 2 reviews
The Mel Brooks Collection (Blazing Saddles / Young Frankenstein / Silent Movie / Robin Hood: Men In Tights / To Be or Not to Be / History of the World, Part I / The Twelve Chairs… (2015) — Author — 140 copies
The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2000) — Contributor — 99 copies, 2 reviews
Great British Tales of Terror: Gothic Stories of Horror and Romance 1765-1840 (1972) — Contributor — 85 copies
Frankenstein Dreams: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Science Fiction (2017) — Contributor — 75 copies, 5 reviews
In the Shadow of Frankenstein: Tales of the Modern Prometheus (2016) — Contributor — 58 copies, 1 review
Ladies of the Gothics: Tales of Romance and Terror by the Gentle Sex (1975) — Contributor — 48 copies, 1 review
The Lifted Veil: The Book of Fantastic Literature by Women 1800-World War II (1806) — Contributor — 45 copies
Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 32 copies, 2 reviews
Ladies of Horror: Two Centuries of Supernatural Stories by the Gentle Sex (1971) — Contributor — 28 copies
The Gentlewomen of Evil: An Anthology of Rare Supernatural Stories from the Pens of Victorian Ladies (1967) — Contributor — 28 copies
The Origins of Science Fiction (Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection) (2022) — Contributor — 23 copies, 1 review
A Quaint and Curious Volume: Tales and Poems of the Gothic (2019) — Contributor — 22 copies, 1 review
#Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus: A Literary Classic Told in Tweets for the 21st Century Audience (Twit Lit Classics) (2018) — Original work — 14 copies
Masters of the Macabre: An Anthology of Mystery, Horror, and Detection (1975) — Contributor — 13 copies
The Afterlife of Frankenstein: A Century of Mad Science, Automata, and Monsters Inspired by Mary Shelley, 1818-1918 (Clockwork Editions) (2023) — Contributor — 12 copies
10 Penguin Classics on 45 CDs (The Mayor of Casterbridge, Pride & Prejudice, Great Expectations, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Crime & Punishment, Wuthering Heights, Northanger Abbey,… (2007) — Contributor — 9 copies, 1 review
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Starring Boris Karloff (Legendary Comics Classic Monsters) (2024) — Contributor — 8 copies
The Frankenstein Monster [1973] #1 — Contributor — 7 copies
The Frankenstein Monster [1973] #4 — Contributor — 6 copies
Faseskift : science fiction noveller : et udvalg (1984) — Author, some editions — 5 copies, 1 review
The Frankenstein Monster [1973] #2 — Contributor — 3 copies
The Frankenstein Monster [1973] #3 — Contributor — 3 copies
Weird Tales Volume 20 Number 5, November 1932 — Contributor — 2 copies
Weird Tales Volume 20 Number 4, October 1932 — Contributor — 2 copies
Great Classic Horror Stories: Frankenstein, the Signalman Carmilla, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the Yellow Wallpaper, Dracula (2018) — Contributor — 1 copy, 1 review
Marvel Classics Comics No. 20 — Story — 1 copy
The princess's story book — Contributor — 1 copy
The King's Story Book — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
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
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. show less
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. show less
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). show less
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). show less
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." show less
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." show less
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