Mathilda

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Mary Shelley's Matilda—suppressed for more than a century—tells the story of a woman alienated from society by the incestuous passion of her father.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Gothic, Short Stories, Horror, Novella, 19th Century

94 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

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

[Vera Ilsøe]

Igen en bog om de fordømte skabninger på den ubarmhjertige jord, ligesom det er tilfældet med Frankenstein. Romanen er intens, tragisk og teatralsk, lige som den skal være. For evigt en fan af dem der i deres følelsers vold drager til heden, hedegængerne<3

[Frida]

3.5*

Så smukt et sprog, men hørte den på lydbog hvor jeg tror handlingen forsvandt for mig. Vil gerne læse den igen hvor jeg tager den fysisk.

[Kristoffer Ladegaard]

Jeg skal bare bede om gotisk litteratur. Giv en mig Frankenstein og en Wurthering Heights og så er jeg glad. Så jeg tænkte at læse Mary Shelley’s mindre kendte værk, nemlig Matilda, og håbede at den ville kunne lette min gotiske trang.

Det gjorde den så. Det er en mørk fortælling om en far, der efterlader sin datter, som så vokser op til at kun tænke på faren og på hvornår han vil vende tilbage. Det gør han så, og de bliver forenet, (cute) men faren finder ud af at han bliver måske lidt for glad for sin datter. Mere vil jeg ikke sige, men Mary Shelley kan virkelig finde ud af, at skrive om helt forfærdelige ting, og på samme tid skrive om det, med et meget flot sprog.

Dog synes jeg at hovedpersonen Matilda er lidt one note igennem hele fortælling, og det er lidt ærgerligt, når der sker så meget træls omkring hende. Men ellers en god, kort og velskrevet gotisk fortælling, men forstår hvorfor Frankenstein er blevet langt mere kendt.

[Ellen Orris]

Fy for satan (positivt ladet)

“Det her er en bog til de rene, beskidte, ødelagte hjerter. Og disse hjerters ejermænd: døtrene.”

[Anne Sofie]

En helt igennem fremragende roman, der tackler et specielt og meget tabuiseret emne, men har en vinkling der gør historien både unik og smuk. Den nye oversættelse (2024) gør sproget letlæseligt og flyende. Sproget er smukt og stærkt opbygget, og medvirker i den grad til hele udtrykket i historien. Mary Shelly formår at skrive på en måde der på en og samme tid vækker noget i en, samtidig med at det er på så højt et taksonomisk niveau, at man føler sig meget oplyst og præget kunstnerisk når man har læst bogen færdig

[Thea Fenger]

En mand ødelægger en kvindes liv!

[Veronica Beccabunga]

den smukkeste skrevet bog jeg nogensinde har læst.

[mel]

Livet er simpelthen for kort til bøger, der bruger en masse ord på ingenting af substans.