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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Born

in Somers Town, London, England

August 30, 1797

Died

February 01, 1851

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Influences

Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Milton ...more

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Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, often known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, travel writer, and editor of the works of her husband, Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin and the writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer in her own lifetime, though reviewers often missed the political edge to her novels. After her death, however, she was chiefly remembered only as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein. It was not until 1989, when Emily Sunstein published her prizewinning biography Mary Shel Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, often known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, travel writer, and editor of the works of her husband, Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin and the writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer in her own lifetime, though reviewers often missed the political edge to her novels. After her death, however, she was chiefly remembered only as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein. It was not until 1989, when Emily Sunstein published her prizewinning biography Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality, that a full-length scholarly biography analyzing all of Shelley's letters, journals, and works within their historical context was published.

The well-meaning attempts of Mary Shelley's son and daughter-in-law to "Victorianise" her memory through the censoring of letters and biographical material contributed to a perception of Mary Shelley as a more conventional, less reformist figure than her works suggest. Her own timid omissions from Percy Shelley's works and her quiet avoidance of public controversy in the later years of her life added to this impression.

The eclipse of Mary Shelley's reputation as a novelist and biographer meant that, until the last thirty years, most of her works remained out of print, obstructing a larger view of her achievement. She was seen as a one-novel author, if that. In recent decades, however, the republication of almost all her writings has stimulated a new recognition of its value. Her voracious reading habits and intensive study, revealed in her journals and letters and reflected in her works, is now better appreciated. Shelley's recognition of herself as an author has also been recognized; after Percy's death, she wrote about her authorial ambitions: "I think that I can maintain myself, and there is something inspiriting in the idea". Scholars now consider Mary Shelley to be a major Romantic figure, significant for her literary achievement and her political voice as a woman and a liberal. ...more

Combine Editions
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s books

Average rating: 3.91 · 2,028,871 ratings · 108,040 reviews · 2,412 distinct works • Similar authors

	Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Charlotte Gordon (Goodreads Author) (Introduction) 3.92 avg rating — 1,956,450 ratings — published 1818 — 148 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mathilda 3.46 avg rating — 8,002 ratings — published 1959 — 699 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Man 3.38 avg rating — 7,172 ratings — published 1826 — 1696 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Maciej Płaza (Translator), Lynd Ward (Illustrator) 4.12 avg rating — 4,209 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Frankenstein / Dracula / Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson 4.28 avg rating — 3,081 ratings — published 1978 — 60 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Frankenstein 4.15 avg rating — 3,129 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mortal Immortal: The Complete Supernatural Short Fiction of Mary Shelley 3.74 avg rating — 2,508 ratings — published 1831 — 346 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Transformation 3.52 avg rating — 1,801 ratings — published 1831 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Frankenstein: The Original 1818 Text 4.14 avg rating — 1,119 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales 3.59 avg rating — 760 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley…

Series by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

الإنسان الأخير (3 books)
by

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

عبدالعزيز عواد العنزي (Translator )

3.53 avg rating — 19 ratings

Lives of Eminent literary and scientific men of Italy, Spain, and Portugal (3 books)
by

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

John Taylor,

Edward Francis Finden

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings

Good news, book nerds! And movie nerds! And TV nerds! It’s time once again for our regular roundup of new and upcoming book-to-screen...

Polls

April 2018 Revisit the Shelf Reread Poll

Persuasion by Jane Austen, 1817, 249 pages, Last Read Aug. 2015

56 votes, 15.0%

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, 1855, 521 pages, Last Read June 2015

45 votes, 12.1%

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 1961, 453 pages, Last Read Nov. 2013

42 votes, 11.3%

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1960, 324 pages, Last Read 2016

38 votes, 10.2%

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1818, 273 pages, Last Read Oct. 2016

37 votes, 9.9%

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, 1943, 496 pages, Last Read May 2013

24 votes, 6.4%

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1922, 422 pages, Last Read Jan. 2014

24 votes, 6.4%

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, 1984, 320 pages, Last Read Dec. 2012

22 votes, 5.9%

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë, 1847, 251 pages, Last Read Mar 2016

22 votes, 5.9%

King Lear by William Shakespeare, 1603, 316 pages, Last Read Oct. 2012

21 votes, 5.6%

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, 1878, 448 pages, Last Read Oct. 2015

15 votes, 4.0%

The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, 1921, 752 pages, Last Read July 2012

14 votes, 3.8%

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, 1847, 867 pages, Last Read Sep. 2011

13 votes, 3.5%

373 total votes

73 comments

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