a few of my favourite mary shelley facts (a short list):
since it is my one true love’s 219th birthday today, I thought I would share some of my favourite facts about her and her incredible life:
she was the daughter of two of the most famous philosophers of the 18th century so she was kind of a bona-fide celebrity and grew up surronded by some of the leading intellects of the 18th and 19th centuries
frankenstein was published anonymously and until mary revealed herself, it was commonly thought to have been written by shelley due him writing the preface
there are two editions of frankenstein: the original published in 1818 and a revised one published in 1831 (most editions publish the latter)
the only reason the summer in geneva happened was because byron wanted to meet mary
he and mary were lifelong friends and she continued to edit and advise on his poetry until his death
she dedicated frankenstein to her father, who had disowned her at the time for running off with percy shelley (a married man)
speaking of, frankenstein itself (or at least the 1818 edition) is about the consequences of abandoning one’s responsibilities/child
when she ran away with shelley (which is what she called him), she thought her father would support her as he embodied much of his philosophical ideals
she and shelley fell in love while visiting her mother’s grave (and possibly consummated their relationship there)
the two often shared a journal and read together at night
they both read and edited each other’s work and were each other’s greatest collaborators
she was pregnant five times during her life; she gave birth four times but only one child lived into adulthood
shelley saved her life during her last miscarriage when she was hemorrhaging and he ordered her to sit on ice until the doctor arrived… that action was the only reason she survived
after shelley’s tragic death, she dedicated herself to sharing his poetry and his life story with the world… despite being banned by his uncle from writing a memoir, her notes on his published poems are so thorough that they almost act as a memoir. it is thanks to her efforts that he is the canonical poet we know and love
she was devoted to her only surviving son and his wife and lived with them until her death
a year after her death, her family opened her box-desk and found locks of her dead children’s hair, a shared notebook between her and shelley, and a copy of adonaïs (a poem by shelley) with one page folded around a parcel containing some of the ashes and remains of his heart
despite being known for frankenstein, she wrote many other novels including the last man, one of the first pieces of post-apocalyptic fiction