It is worth knowing the biography of Mary Shelley, author of the first great sci-fi work in history: the novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus.
Many are unaware that this famous work, made into movies, television and even cartoons, was written by a woman, at a time when the success of a female figure was unlikely.
- Mary Shelley’s life was as fascinating as her work.
- Great tragedies.
- A great love she kept in her heart until her death and a life full of boldness and adventure are what characterizes her.
- What lived in real life could very well become another romance.
“Feeling love for another will put me in the gears of existence that encourages others, but of which I am currently excluded. “Mary Shelley.
Although Mary Shelley entered the list of great writers of Frankenstein’s universal literature, it was not her only work.
It has other novels and plays that, in recent decades, have increasingly attracted the attention of experts. In life, the success of his sci-fi work was so great that it eclipsed other creations.
Mary Shelley was born in London on 30 August 1797, a family of distinctly progressive lineage.
Her father, with whom Mary had always had an intimate relationship, was William Godwin, philosopher, journalist and novelist; his mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, a pioneer philosopher of the feminist movement.
Unfortunately, Mary’s mother died giving birth to her, apparently she had an infection and uncontrolled fever led to her death.
This woman had had another daughter when she was single, Mary’s father received her as her own daughter, both girls grew up as sisters and had a very close relationship throughout their lives.
When Mary was 3 years old, her father remarried to a neighbor, who also had two daughters. Mary apparently came to hate her mother-in-law, but he had a happy childhood and adolescence.
Her father raised her and her sister Claire in a very liberal way. He gave them access to in-depth training and took care to turn them into well-educated women.
When Mary Shelley was 17, she met the poet and writer Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was 22 years old and married. He frequented Mary Shelley’s house because he was a friend of his father’s.
The two began to meet in secret at Mary’s mother’s grave, it was a dear place for her. He said he learned to write by drawing his mother’s name on his headstone with his finger.
Mary Shelley had a liberal vision of marriage and love; the father and society at large opposed this relationship; however, the lovers fled to Paris with Mary’s half-sister Claire.
The couple had a relationship based on a mutual interest in literature and the world of ideas, however, Percy often had to be absent to avoid his creditors.
These separations were a source of distress for Mary, who became pregnant in 1814. His partner, Percy, was flirting openly with his half-sister. He also had a son with his wife at the same time.
Mary gave birth in February 1815, but her daughter died before her birthday, which plunged her into severe depression.
Shortly after these events, Percy’s wife committed suicide, which led much of society to reject their relationship with Mary, so they decided to leave, also pursued by debt.
They went to Geneva, where they spent interesting nights with Lord Byron, the great poet, who had had a son with Mary’s half-sister. These nights inspired Mary, who wrote Frankenstein after dreaming of his plot.
He had two other children with Percy. They later went to Italy, where they led a nomadic life. The couple’s eldest son died in 1818, followed by the death of his younger sister a year later.
Mary was depressed and ill most of the time, however, in 1819 she had a fourth child, who was the only one who survived.
In 1822, while returning to a sailboat, Percy drowned. Mary asked for her body to be cremated, but she asked before her heart was drawn. Then she and her son Percy Florence returned to England.
During the last years of her life, Mary suffered from paralysis in different parts of her body and died at age 54, probably from a brain tumor.
After her death, they searched her office, in one of the drawers found her husband’s heart wrapped in a silk paper containing one of her poems, as well as part of her ashes, plus there were locks of hair from the three deceased. Children.