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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: 3.92 · 2,104,394 ratings · 115,100 reviews · 3,514 distinct works • Similar authors

	Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Charlotte Gordon (Goodreads Author) (Introduction) 3.93 avg rating — 2,026,515 ratings — published 1818 — 12273 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 3.50 avg rating — 10,264 ratings — published 1959 — 432 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 3.39 avg rating — 7,465 ratings — published 1826 — 1518 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 4.18 avg rating — 5,521 ratings — published 1818 — 262 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) 4.14 avg rating — 4,812 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 — 3,101 ratings — published 1978 — 57 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 Mortal Immortal: The Complete Supernatural Short Fiction of Mary Shelley 3.73 avg rating — 2,859 ratings — published 1831 — 326 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 — 2,453 ratings — published 1831 — 42 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 — 1,535 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
	FRANKENSTIEN 3.97 avg rating — 1,045 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

More books by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley…

Series by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

الإنسان الأخير (3 books)
by

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

ماري شيلي,

عبد العزيز عواد العنزي (Translator )

3.12 avg rating — 60 ratings

The awful truth is that it’s difficult, sometimes, to pick the next book you want to read. All bookworms with a serious habit know this...

Polls

February 2018 Revisit Poll

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, 1961, 277 pages, Last Read November 2010

52 votes, 13.6%

Persuasion by Jane Austen, 1817, 249 pages, Last Read August 2015

46 votes, 12.1%

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, 1848, 542 pages, Last Read April 2015

36 votes, 9.4%

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 1923, 194 pages, Last Read March 2015

34 votes, 8.9%

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

33 votes, 8.7%

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, 1726, 306 pages, Last Read September 2013

32 votes, 8.4%

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, 1989, 258 pages, Last Read January 2017

30 votes, 7.9%

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

26 votes, 6.8%

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1818, 273 pages, Last Read October 2016

24 votes, 6.3%

Paradise Lost by John Milton, 1667, 453 pages, Last Read December 2012

21 votes, 5.5%

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, 1930, 213 pages, Last Read March 2012

18 votes, 4.7%

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

16 votes, 4.2%

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, 1596, 237 pages, Last Read September 2016

13 votes, 3.4%

381 total votes

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