Mary Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died of puerperal fever 10 days after giving birth to her daughter. Mary's labor lasted 18 hours and then it took four hours to remove the rest of the placenta. She was one of the first feminists, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and the novel The Wrongs of Woman, in which she wrote: "We cannot, without depraving our minds, endeavour to please a lover or husband, but in proportion as he pleases us." In the intellectual circles of London, her acquaintances included the painter Henry Fuseli, Erasmus Darwin, Charles's grandfather, and William Blake, who illustrated an edition of her book, Original Stories from Real Life.

Mary Shelley's father was the writer and political journalist William Godwin, who became famous with his work An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793). Godwin had revolutionary attitudes to most social institutions, including marriage. In feminism he found an "amazonian" element. Among his other books is Things as They Are, or The Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794).

In her childhood Mary Shelley was left to educate herself amongst her father's intellectual circle, the critic Hazlitt, the essayist Lamb, the poet Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who came into Godwin's circle in 1812. Godwin took a second in 1801, but Mary never learned to like her. In 1812 Godwin sent her to live in Dundee. Mary published her first poem at the age of ten. At the age of 16 she ran away to France and Switzerland with Shelley; they had met at the end of 1812. Percy and Mary married in 1816 - Shelley's wife Harriet had committed suicide by drowning. Their first child, a daughter, died in Venice, Italy, a few years later. In HISTORY OF SIX WEEKS TOUR (1817) the Shelleys jointly recorded their life. Thereafter they returned to England and Mary gave birth to a son, William.

 

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Featured Books, with extracts by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein (Oxford Children's Classics)
Mary Shelley
This classic story of a scientific creation that takes matters into its own hands created a literary landmark. Although written almost two hundred years ago, it still raises fascinating issues about controlling life. Like many other scientists before and since,...
Featured in: 11+ readers | Audio Books
Format: Hardback - Released: 05/08/2010
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Frankenstein (Classics Illustrated)
Mary Shelley
One of a range of marvellous comic books created in the '50s and '60s now with artwork re-coloured and covers digitally enhanced for a new generation. Perfect Bound at a terrifically good value price.   A message from the publisher: Classics...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 14+ readers | Audio Books
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/10/2009
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Frankenstein - retold by Gill Tavner
Mary Shelley
When Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, an epic battle of friendship and horror begins between man and monster - and as it reaches fever pitch a tragic chain of events occurs.   From Chesca, aged 10: 'The pictures are so detailed and...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 30/09/2008
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Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Obsessed by creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, which he shocks into life by electricity. But his botched creature, rejected by Frankenstein and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy his maker and all that...
Featured in: 14+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 30/01/2003
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