Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)

by Mary A. Waters

Most famous as the author of Frankenstein (1818) and wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley was daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. She authored a significant body of travel narrative, biographical essays, and some literary criticism as well as numerous novels, novellas, and tales. In addition to Frankenstein, her novels include Valperga (1823), The Last Man (1826), The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837). Among her shorter works, those that stand out include Mathilda (1959), "The Transformation" (1831), and "The Mortal Immortal" (1834), the latter two originally published in the gift annual The Keepsake. Her work in editing and introducing her deceased husband's poems did much to define his reception for many years.