Introduction

Abstract

Greatness was expected of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley; she stood to inherit the passionate literary ambitions of her radical, idealistic parents William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, and later her marriage to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley seemed part of a momentous destiny. Almost until her death in 1851, she pursued a literary career with discipline, dedicated scholarship, and often desperation when her pen provided a meagre income for her tiny, nomadic household. Her first novel, Frankenstein, was begun shortly after her teenage elopement with Percy and was ready for publication before her twentieth birthday. She went on to write a novella,1 five novels, travelogues, poetry, two dramas, many popular short stories, and a large collection of biographical and critical notes for Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia, contributing the best part of five volumes to the distinguished series. She witnessed the transformation of her first and best book into international cultural myth with a number of popular stage productions, translations and appropriations of Frankenstein. The combined effort of her edition of PBS’s Posthumous Poems and Collected Works with essays, letters and fragments, established the poet’s reputation.KeywordsScience FictionWoman WriterPolitical JusticeDistinguished SeriesHuman LoveThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.