Mary Shelley
August 30, 1797 - February 1, 1851Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft (who died of complications from the birth) and William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was raised by her father and a stepmother.
In 1814, after a brief acquaintance, Mary eloped with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father refused to speak with her for several years afterwards. They married in 1816 when he extricated himself from his previous marriage.
She's known today as a member of the Romantic circle, as the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, and as the author of the novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, published in 1818.
Frankenstein enjoyed immediate popularity upon its publication, and has inspired many imitations and versions, including many film versions in the 20th century. She wrote it when her husband's friend and associate, George, Lord Byron, suggested that each of the three (Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and Byron) each write a ghost story.
She wrote several more novels and some short stories, with historical, Gothic or science fiction themes. She also edited an edition of Percy Shelley's poems, 1830. Her biography of her husband was unfinished at her death.
Mary Shelley on this site
Mary Shelley on the Web
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
- Mary Shelley's The Last Man
- Mary Shelley's The Mortal Immortal
-
Romantic Circles - Byron, the Shelleys, Keats
and Their Contemporaries
A website including the work of many contributors -
The Percy Bysshe Shelley
Chronology
A timeline for Shelley's famous husband.
About Mary Shelley
- Categories: women writers
- Period: 19th century
- Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin
Also on this site
Bibliography
- Buss, Helen M. et al. Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley: Writing Lives. 2001.
- Mellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters. 1989.
- Seymour, Miranda. Mary Shelley. 2001.
- Florescu, Radu R. In Search of Frankenstein: Exploring the Myths Behind Mary Shelley's Monster. 1997.
- Schoene-Harwood, Berthold and Richard Beynon. Mary Shelley: Frankenstein - Columbia Critical Guides.
- Shelley, Mary. Collected Tales and Stories. Charles E. Robinson, editor. 1990.
- Shelley, Mary. Collected Tales with Original Engravings.
- Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein: the 1818 Text: Contexts, Nineteenth-Century Responses, Modern Criticism - A Norton Critical Edition. 1996.
- Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus. Angela Carter, introduction. 1992.
- Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. The Last Man. 1973.
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Text copyright 1999-2006 © Jone Johnson Lewis.
