
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Pseudonym: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Born: 30/08/1797 Died: 01/02/1851 Gender: Female Genre: Gothic Occupation: NovelistAlthough her name is inextricably linked with that of her husband and great love, the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley was a superlative author in her own right, and one of the most singular and unusual talents of her generation. Her best-known work is Frankenstein (1818), a novel that is part Gothic thriller, part philosophical treatise, part science fiction, and she later developed a successful career writing fiction, travel and biography. Born Mary Godwin, daughter of the feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft and the radical thinker William Godwin, Shelley had a rebellious, free-spirited temperament, and after she eloped with Percy at the age of 16 became involved with the unconventional circle that surrounded Lord Byron. Following her husband’s untimely death in a boating accident, she edited and championed his works – to the extent that for many years her own achievements were sidelined.
Image source: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley by Richard Rothwell © National Portrait Gallery, LondonFeatured works
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Title: Frankenstein Published: 1925 Format: Novel Period: Romantic Genre: Gothic Learn moreRelated articles

Gothic motifs
What does it mean to say a text is Gothic? Professor John Bowen considers some of the best-known Gothic novels of the late 18th and 19th centuries, exploring the features they have in common, including marginal places, transitional time periods and the use of fear and manipulation.

The Gothic
Professor John Bowen discusses key motifs in Gothic novels, including the uncanny, the sublime and the supernatural. Filmed at Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham.

Matthew Sweet on Frankenstein
The first of three animated virals to promote the new Sky series 'Penny Dreadful', created at Beakus by director Gergely Wootsch.