Mary Shelley
English writer (1797–1851)
Mary Shelley: from Frankenstein to a wider literary career
A writer’s education
Born Mary Godwin in London, she grew up in the household of political thinker William Godwin and writer Mary Wollstonecraft, who died soon after her birth. Her education was largely informal, but access to her father’s books and literary visitors gave her a sustained encounter with ideas and writing. She began writing well before the novel that made her famous.
The making of Frankenstein
In 1816, while staying near Geneva with Percy Bysshe Shelley and other writers, she developed the story that became Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Published in 1818, the novel joins a Gothic narrative to questions about scientific creation and responsibility. Its scientist and creature became familiar far beyond the book, but the original novel was the work of a young author already committed to writing.
Beyond a single novel
After Percy Shelley’s death in 1822, Mary Shelley continued to work as an author and editor while raising their surviving son. Her later fiction includes The Last Man, and she also produced travel writing and biographical essays. The range of titles in Project Gutenberg’s catalogue helps show a career extending well beyond Frankenstein and her role in preserving her husband’s poetry.
Data and sources
Biography.com — Mary Shelley ↗