MARY SHELLEY PUBLISHED FRANKENSTEIN IN 1818 WHEN SHE WAS JUST 21 YEARS OLD.
In fact, Mary Shelley wrote her most iconic piece of literature when she was just 18 years old! When the novel was first published, there were many reviews bashing the premise of the story with one review by John Wilson Croker, in 1818, stating that the novel “inculcates no lesson of conduct, manners, or morality; it cannot mend, and will not even amuse its readers, unless their taste have been deplorably vitiated…”
But, despite being critiqued by some reviewers, at the time, Frankenstein became a hit among readers who loved the gothic tale that quickly became a classic piece of literature.
MARY SHELLEY WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE FRANKENSTEIN FOR A GHOST STORY CHALLENGE DURING “THE YEAR WITHOUT SUMMER.”
During the summer of 1816, the weather was abysmal and Percey Shelley and Mary Godwin (at the time) traveled to Geneva, Switzerland for the season. There, Percy, Mary, their son, William, and Mary’s stepsister, Claire, happened upon Lord Bryon, who was traveling with John Polidori, his physician at the time. According to the British Library, they spent dark and gloomy summer days together discussing personal philosophies and how life is created.
Then, one day, Lord Bryon suggested that they all write ghost stories to share with one another. In the author’s introduction of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wrote, “I busied myself to think of a story…One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror—one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart. If I did not accomplish these things, my ghost story would be unworthy of its name.”
Through the influence of the ghost story competition and the somber setting of their summer, Mary Shelley was inspired to create her most iconic horror story that would be retold generations later.
MARY SHELLEY’S INSPIRATION FOR FRANKENSTEIN CAME FROM A NIGHTMARE.
Stuck together with nothing to do other than reading poetry and musing ideas with one another in their summer villa, Mary Shelley had a nightmare during one dreary night. She wrote in her author’s introduction that she dreamed of what would become Victor Frankenstein, “He sleeps; but he is awakened; he opens his eyes; behold, the horrid thing stands at his bedside, opening his curtains and looking on him with yellow, watery, but speculative eyes.”
Once she awoke, Mary Shelley felt compelled to write more of this story by telling her readers, “I have found it! What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow.”
FRANKENSTEIN IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE FIRST EARLY EXAMPLES OF SCIENCE FICTION.
After Frankenstein was published and readers began flocking to read the gothic horror novel centered around a scientist who creates new life through the use of galvanism, people throughout history have considered Mary Shelley to be the creator of science fiction.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Frankenstein is “the best-known fiction of the Romantic era” and is one of the earliest examples of science fiction in the history of storytelling, a topic that is up for debate by many readers throughout centuries.
MARY SHELLEY WROTE MORE THAN JUST FRANKENSTEIN.
While she is known for penning the infamous Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wrote more novels throughout her career that readers may not know about. In 1823, Mary Shelley published Valperga, a historical fiction novel following Castruccio Castracani, who invades a fictitious land run by Euthanasia. Throughout the story, Castruccio makes Euthanasia choose between her love for him or her love for her land, Valperga, a storyline much different from that of Frankenstein.
She also wrote The Last Man in 1826, an apocalyptic science fiction novel exploring a world that is doomed with a plague wiping the population. Another novel she wrote was Lodore in 1835, a novel centered around women’s roles in society and in families, which is much different from her other works.