The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Florence A. Thomas Marshall (Editor)

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Genres: Nonfiction

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1889

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Flavia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feelings, sentiments, - more invaluable than gold or precious stones is the the coin, and what is bought? Contempt, discontent, and disappointment, [...] the most contemptible of all lives is where you live in the world, and none of your passions or affections are brought into action. [...] Let me love the trees, the skies, and the ocean and that all-encompassing spirit of which I may soon become a part. [...] let me fearlessly descend into the remotest caverns of my own mind; carry the torch of self-knowledge into its dimmest recesses.

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[Lona Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for the florid Victorian prose, which not everybody will appreciate. This biography is not to be relied on as an accurate biography of Mary Shelley, because her daughter-in-law suppressed a lot of material that would have hurt Percy Shelley's reputation. But there are a lot of letters and details of interest.
Volume I covers the years from Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin's childhood to her marriage with Percy Bysshe Shelley and his death at sea.

[Bethany Sterling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an elegantly-written biography from a period perspective. Originally published in the late 19th century, Florence A. Marshall personally interviewed people who had known the Shelleys, including family, friends, and descendants. The fact that Florence herself was a woman writer in the Victorian age, a time when women were not yet equally recognized in the literary world, adds even more value to this text.

Much of the book consists of letters exchanged between Mary, friends, and family, as well as Mary's brief journal entries documenting her daily life that demonstrate what a prolific reader and intellect she was. The biography gives us glimpses into her moments of mourning, the stress of family life, frequent travels, Shelley's fleeting platonic loves, as well as her deep, mature love with Shelley that was strongly based on intellectual and artistic exchange. It is an intriguing book that includes the author's interpretations of how these life events affected Mary, from a historical perspective that validates these interpretations given the time period.

On the other hand, as a period biography, it is inevitable that Florence Marshall only brushed the surface of certain life events that likely had an intense impact on Mary's emotions. I suspect a biography written in modern times would delve deeper into less-than-idyllic topics. In any case, this book is definitely worth reading if you are a fan of the Shelleys, and I undoubtedly will embark on volume 2 of this set.

[Gerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's well written, providing a quick read.
Didn't know much about Mary Shelley's family going in, so it did provide quite an interesting read to me although we do get to know very little about Mary herself.

Most of the book, consisting for the most part of letters and journal entries written by herself and Shelley, but also a few from their aquaintances, it focuses primarily on Shelley, regarding Mary for the most part in her relation to him only.

These circumstances are explained by the author in the second volume, but it did leave me a bit disapointed, expecting it to be more of a biography of Mary's life.