Mrs. Shelley
'Mrs. Shelley' Summary
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin and her mother was the philosopher and feminist activist Mary Wollstonecraft.
Shelley's mother died less than a month after giving birth to her. She was raised by her father, who provided her with a rich if informal education, encouraging her to adhere to his own anarchist political theories. When she was four, her father married a neighbour, Mary Jane Clairmont, with whom Shelley came to have a troubled relationship.
In 1814, Shelley began a romance with one of her father's political followers, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was already married. Together with her stepsister, Claire Clairmont, she and Percy left for France and travelled through Europe. Upon their return to England, Shelley was pregnant with Percy's child. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt and the death of their prematurely born daughter. They married in late 1816, after the suicide of Percy Shelley's first wife, Harriet.
In 1816, the couple and Mary's stepsister famously spent a summer with Lord Byron and John William Polidori near Geneva, Switzerland, where Shelley conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, most likely caused by the brain tumour which killed her at age 53.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
1890Author
Lucy Madox Rossetti
United Kingdom
Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti was a British artist, author, and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. She was married to the writer and art critic William Michael Rossetti. Madox Brown was born in P...
More on Lucy Madox RossettiListen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey by George Cavendish
Step into the captivating world of Tudor England as George Cavendish unveils the extraordinary life and tragic downfall of one of history's most influ...
The Life Of Charlotte Bronte, Volume 2 by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Life of Charlotte Brontë is the posthumous biography of Charlotte Brontë by fellow novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. The first edition was published in...
George Sand by Bertha Thomas
In "George Sand" by Bertha Thomas, delve into the captivating life of one of the most influential and enigmatic figures of 19th-century literature. Th...
Jean-Christophe, Volume I by Romain Rolland
Jean-Christophe is the novel in 10 volumes by Romain Rolland for which he received the Prix Femina in 1905 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915....
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who...
Milton by Thomas Babington Macaulay
John Milton (1608-1674) was an English poet, classicist, and fearless advocate for civil liberty, who served the Commonwealth of England under Oliver...
Confessions, Volume 5 by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Confessions is an autobiographical book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In modern times, it is often published with the title The Confessions of Jean-Ja...
The Underground Railroad, Part 4 by William Still
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was...
Jane Austen and Her Times by Geraldine Mitton
This book starts saying it won't be a biography but instead will describe the times of Jane Austen, but then details the live of Jane Austen with a bi...
Rousseau and Education According to Nature by Thomas Davidson
In my Volume on Aristotle in this series, I tried to give an account of ancient, classical, and social Education; in the present volume I have endeavo...
Reviews for Mrs. Shelley
No reviews posted or approved, yet...