Mary Shelley's Life and Literary Legacy: From Frankenstein to The Last Man
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, known as Mary Shelley, was born on August 30, 1797, to feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and philosopher William Godwin. Following her mother’s death shortly after her birth, her father ensured she received an extensive education. At the age of 16, she ran away with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley to France in 1814. The inspiration for her novel Frankenstein emerged in 1816 during a chilly summer at Lake Geneva, sparked by a ghost story contest with Lord Byron. The book was released anonymously in 1818. Among her subsequent works are Valperga (1823), The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), and The Last Man (1826). After Percy’s drowning in 1822, she focused on editing his writings and caring for their son. She passed away in 1851 and was laid to rest in Bournemouth.
Key facts
- Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on August 30, 1797
- Her parents were feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft and philosopher William Godwin
- She eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley to France in 1814 at age 16
- Frankenstein was conceived during the summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva, Switzerland
- The novel was published anonymously in 1818 with Percy Shelley's preface
- Shelley wrote The Last Man (1826), an early apocalyptic dystopian novel
- Percy Shelley died in a boating accident in 1822
- Mary Shelley died in 1851 and was buried in Bournemouth
Entities
Artists
- Mary Shelley
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Mary Wollstonecraft
- William Godwin
- Lord Byron
- John Keats
- Henry Fuseli
- Gilbert Imlay
- Claire Clairmont
- Fanny Imlay
- Harriet Westbrook
- John Polidori
- Edward Williams
- Jane Williams
- Edward John Trelawny
- Caspar David Friedrich
- John Ruskin
- Reginald Easton
- Louis Édouard Fournier
- James Northcote
- Amelia Curran
- Thomas Phillips
- Richard Rothwell
- William Marlow
- John Opie
Institutions
- National Portrait Gallery, London
- Bodleian Library, Oxford
- Digital Bodleian
- Web Gallery of Art
- Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin
- State Museum of Berlin
- National Museums Liverpool
- Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
- Yale Center for British Art
- Newstead Abbey
- University College, Oxford
- Drury Lane Theatre
- Project Gutenberg
Locations
- London
- England
- United Kingdom
- France
- Switzerland
- Lake Geneva
- Geneva
- Villa Diodati
- Italy
- Livorno
- Viareggio
- Bournemouth
- St. Pancras churchyard
- Oxford
- Berlin
- Cambridge
- Nottinghamshire
- Indonesia
- Mount Tambora
- Greece
- Chamonix