Character Catalog

Mary Shelley's first and most celebrated novel, considered the founding text of science fiction. It raises ethical questions about the artificial creation of life and the creator's responsibility toward their creature.

A dystopian novel set at the end of the 21st century, depicting the gradual extinction of humanity through a worldwide epidemic. Poorly received upon publication, it is now recognized as a masterpiece of post-apocalyptic literature.

A historical novel set in 14th-century medieval Italy. Mary Shelley develops a reflection on power and tyranny, demonstrating her mastery of novelistic genres beyond the realm of the fantastical.

A short autobiographical novel exploring depression and grief, written after the deaths of her children. Deemed too dark by her father William Godwin, it remained unpublished during Mary Shelley's lifetime and was not released until the 20th century.

A series of literary biographies commissioned for the Cabinet Cyclopædia. Mary Shelley displays remarkable erudition throughout, contributing to the dissemination of European culture in England.

A complete edition of Percy Shelley's poems, annotated and prefaced by Mary. This monumental work preserves her husband's writings and secures his place in the Romantic literary canon.

I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life.

Write my story. Read. Walk. Talk with Lord Byron and Shelley. Write.

I am sadly deficient in the self-sufficiency which is necessary to withstand the world — I feel every unkindness acutely.

It is not singular that, as the daughter of two persons of distinguished literary celebrity, I should very early in life have thought of writing. As a child I scribbled; and my favourite pastime during the hours given me for recreation was to write stories.

It is in this villa overlooking Lake Geneva that Mary conceived Frankenstein during the summer of 1816. The place has become a symbol of the birth of modern fantasy and science fiction literature.

Mary grew up in this working-class district of London, between her father William Godwin's house and St Pancras Cemetery where her mother is buried. It is in this neighbourhood that she learned to read at the grave of Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary and Percy settled in this Italian coastal town in 1822. It is there that Percy Shelley drowned during a storm. The place represents both the beauty of Romantic Italy and Mary's personal tragedy.

Bavarian city chosen by Mary Shelley as the setting for Doctor Frankenstein's experiments, in reference to its university founded in 1472. She places there the secret laboratory where the creature comes to life.

Mary Shelley spent the last years of her life in this Victorian London neighbourhood, under the care of her son Percy Florence. It is there that she died in 1851, surrounded by her manuscripts and her husband's works.

Mary Shelley wrote all her novels and journals with a quill pen, an everyday tool in the intellectual life of the 19th century. She wrote Frankenstein largely by hand, encouraged by Percy to transform her nightmare into a literary work.

Galvani's work on animal electricity and experiments conducted on the bodies of condemned men captivated Mary Shelley's generation. These works of 'natural philosophy' — the forerunner of modern science — directly fuelled the imaginative world of Frankenstein.

Mary Shelley often wrote at night, by the light of an oil lamp, once the other members of the household had fallen asleep. This nocturnal atmosphere reappears in the clandestine laboratory scenes featuring Victor Frankenstein.

Mary kept a diary from adolescence, partly written together with Percy. This diary is a valuable historical source on her life, her reading, and the genesis of her works. It reveals in particular the exact circumstances of the night at the Villa Diodati.

Life on the shores of Lake Geneva and later in Italian ports placed the sailing boat at the heart of Mary's daily existence. Navigation is a central metaphor in Frankenstein, and it was during a sailing trip that Percy Shelley lost his life.

Mary Shelley kept a portrait of her mother, a feminist philosopher she never knew, close at hand. She read and reread her works throughout her life, drawing on them in her own reflections on the condition of women and the act of creation.