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Letters of Mary W. Shelley
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
188 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1972
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About the author
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2,393 books8,933 followersMary 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.
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.
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January 7, 2016Mary is a difficult person to understand. Her letters give some insight, but she was so smart, and so determined to reinvent Shelley (and to regain respectability in the eyes of society for the benefit of her son) that it's difficult to get down to her real self.
The earliest letters are the most revealing, when Shelley was busy dumping his first wife and taking up with teenage Mary (and possibly Claire) and trying to get Mary to sleep with his friends, so that they could have equality in open marriage.
She seems to me to be a scholar thrust into the position of a rebel; she believed in her mother's precepts for the emancipation of women, but she seems to have longed for home and hearth--with a dedication to scholarship and literature. When she and Claire made lists of things to be learning while they were constantly on the move and scrambling for money, food, baby clothes, and the like, Claire seems to have applied herself in fits and starts, bouncing from piano to singing to drawing to writing, and fan-girling Shelley and Byron. But Mary was diligent.
It's interesting to track her female friendships (in spite of Shelley's roving eye) as she juggling scholarship, infant care, and the loss of her children, until Shelley's drowning.
After the tragedy, she brought that singleminded diligence to preserving Shelley's memory as the beautiful angel of poetry, the ultimate Romantic. Her discovery of total betrayal by her supposed close friend Jane Williams seems to have driven her further into herself, and her relationship with Claire, who Shelley had pretty much forced on her, soured for life.
Byron continued to deeply respect her, which could be said for few of the women in his life. Their letters are interesting to read, both here and in Byron's published papers.
The earliest letters are the most revealing, when Shelley was busy dumping his first wife and taking up with teenage Mary (and possibly Claire) and trying to get Mary to sleep with his friends, so that they could have equality in open marriage.
She seems to me to be a scholar thrust into the position of a rebel; she believed in her mother's precepts for the emancipation of women, but she seems to have longed for home and hearth--with a dedication to scholarship and literature. When she and Claire made lists of things to be learning while they were constantly on the move and scrambling for money, food, baby clothes, and the like, Claire seems to have applied herself in fits and starts, bouncing from piano to singing to drawing to writing, and fan-girling Shelley and Byron. But Mary was diligent.
It's interesting to track her female friendships (in spite of Shelley's roving eye) as she juggling scholarship, infant care, and the loss of her children, until Shelley's drowning.
After the tragedy, she brought that singleminded diligence to preserving Shelley's memory as the beautiful angel of poetry, the ultimate Romantic. Her discovery of total betrayal by her supposed close friend Jane Williams seems to have driven her further into herself, and her relationship with Claire, who Shelley had pretty much forced on her, soured for life.
Byron continued to deeply respect her, which could be said for few of the women in his life. Their letters are interesting to read, both here and in Byron's published papers.
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July 30, 2017Cross-comparing Claire Clairmont's journals and letters with Mary Shelley's letters and Byron's journal and letters in this edition (volume 1), at least up to the terrible events of 1822.
There are fascinating discoveries to be made for the reader who was a teen and young adult during the throes of the 'sixties' (which actually were the early seventies) when the winds of change were supposedly blowing. Well, Mary, Claire, Shelley, and to some extent Byron were very much aware of their own winds of change. (Though Byron appears to have become more conservative as the others reinvented themselves.) One marvels at the boggling innocence of these teenagers setting out to discover the delights of the road just as Napoleon's horrible wars were ending—Waterloo yet to come—without realizing the human cost. No, they were seeking poetry, renewal, human greatness. At least Shelley was; Mary is harder to read, and Clair paid lipservice to the ideals, but she really wanted to be with a famous guy.
The price of fame haunts them all, as they age—those who live. Shelley and Byron die young, prisoned forever in romantic memory (Shelley's image so whitewashed and retrofitted even the drawings of his were changed); the women have to struggle with the fallout, Claire to be a governess for most of the rest of a long life (and her travels are fascinating) Mary to write anonymously, keeping her lip buttoned so her one remaining son is not denied his heritage by a miserable old relative who seems to live forever; she is rejected by her own society, and betrayed by her closest friend who also wanted fame above all. What they tried to do, how they did it, what they saw, experienced, how they reacted, the price, the discoveries, the memories, are endlessly fascinating.
Excellent footnotes and bibliography make it easier for the reader who wants to see these people as much as possible in their own words.
There are fascinating discoveries to be made for the reader who was a teen and young adult during the throes of the 'sixties' (which actually were the early seventies) when the winds of change were supposedly blowing. Well, Mary, Claire, Shelley, and to some extent Byron were very much aware of their own winds of change. (Though Byron appears to have become more conservative as the others reinvented themselves.) One marvels at the boggling innocence of these teenagers setting out to discover the delights of the road just as Napoleon's horrible wars were ending—Waterloo yet to come—without realizing the human cost. No, they were seeking poetry, renewal, human greatness. At least Shelley was; Mary is harder to read, and Clair paid lipservice to the ideals, but she really wanted to be with a famous guy.
The price of fame haunts them all, as they age—those who live. Shelley and Byron die young, prisoned forever in romantic memory (Shelley's image so whitewashed and retrofitted even the drawings of his were changed); the women have to struggle with the fallout, Claire to be a governess for most of the rest of a long life (and her travels are fascinating) Mary to write anonymously, keeping her lip buttoned so her one remaining son is not denied his heritage by a miserable old relative who seems to live forever; she is rejected by her own society, and betrayed by her closest friend who also wanted fame above all. What they tried to do, how they did it, what they saw, experienced, how they reacted, the price, the discoveries, the memories, are endlessly fascinating.
Excellent footnotes and bibliography make it easier for the reader who wants to see these people as much as possible in their own words.
Want to Read
September 7, 2008Vol.1 of 3
Want to Read
September 7, 2008Vol.2 of 3.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews