Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Dutton (1987), Edition: 1st, 248 pages
Description
Painting a portrait of a gothic icon, this biography recounts Mary Shelley’s dramatic life, from her youth and turbulent marriage to her career as writer and editor. At the age of 20, Mary Shelley secured her place in history by writing Frankenstein, now acknowledged as one of the great literary classics. The daughter of radical philosopher William Godwin and pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley led an unconventional life, which is depicted—with previously unpublished material—in this remarkable biography that was originally released in 1987 as a thorough revision of Muriel Spark's 1951 book Child of Light. Spark lends her own talents as an accomplished writer and her sharp intelligence to this fascinating examination of Mary Shelley's life and writings.… (more)
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LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Muriel Spark wrote her biography of Mary Shelley before she published her first novel. Decades later she substantially revised the biography. Although she doesn't explicitly state this, I'm sure her experience as a novelist informed the revision, particularly the critical section of the book. I
I appreciated Spark's comment in the introduction that she “ha{s} always disliked the sort of biography which states 'X lay on the bed and watched the candle flickering on the roof beams,' when there is no evidence that X did so.” I also dislike that sort of biography, and when I read them I always end up questioning the facts as well as the added color. Spark comes across as a careful and conscientious biographer who does not speculate farther than is warranted by the historical evidence and, where her interpretation differs from Shelley's other biographers, acknowledges these differences of opinion.
I read this biography as a companion to Shelley's Frankenstein on audio and I'm glad I decided to do that. I knew the barest details about how Shelley had come to write Frankenstein, but not enough of the details of Shelley's life to affect my interpretation of the novel. Shelley's husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, died young, and all but one of the couple's children died in infancy or early childhood. I didn't realize that Mary Shelley only knew her famous mother, Mary Woollstonecraft, through her writings and the stories she heard from others since Mary Woollstonecraft died very soon after her daughter's birth. Mary Shelley lost other family members and friends to illness or accident while she was still in her twenties, and the accumulation of loss affected her writing.
Shelley's life is covered in the first two thirds of the book, while the last third contains a critical reflection on her work. Readers whose primary interest is in one or the other could read just the section corresponding to their interest. However, it's worthwhile to read the work as a whole since there are some critical comments in the biographical section and the critical section refers to some of the biographical details of Shelley's life.
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like reading novelists on other novelists because they have a different insight into the creative process than biographers who write only non-fiction.I appreciated Spark's comment in the introduction that she “ha{s} always disliked the sort of biography which states 'X lay on the bed and watched the candle flickering on the roof beams,' when there is no evidence that X did so.” I also dislike that sort of biography, and when I read them I always end up questioning the facts as well as the added color. Spark comes across as a careful and conscientious biographer who does not speculate farther than is warranted by the historical evidence and, where her interpretation differs from Shelley's other biographers, acknowledges these differences of opinion.
I read this biography as a companion to Shelley's Frankenstein on audio and I'm glad I decided to do that. I knew the barest details about how Shelley had come to write Frankenstein, but not enough of the details of Shelley's life to affect my interpretation of the novel. Shelley's husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, died young, and all but one of the couple's children died in infancy or early childhood. I didn't realize that Mary Shelley only knew her famous mother, Mary Woollstonecraft, through her writings and the stories she heard from others since Mary Woollstonecraft died very soon after her daughter's birth. Mary Shelley lost other family members and friends to illness or accident while she was still in her twenties, and the accumulation of loss affected her writing.
Shelley's life is covered in the first two thirds of the book, while the last third contains a critical reflection on her work. Readers whose primary interest is in one or the other could read just the section corresponding to their interest. However, it's worthwhile to read the work as a whole since there are some critical comments in the biographical section and the critical section refers to some of the biographical details of Shelley's life.
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LibraryThing member LizzieD
Since nobody else has reviewed this excellent biography, I'll write a quick one. Muriel Spark wrote the first version of this in 1951, which was published in the U.K. but not in the U.S. She revised it in 1987. She chose to write the biography first and then to write her criticism of three of MS's
Spark sees MS as a figure born into the 18th century milieu but cast into the Romanticism of the 19th century. She says that this explains the disparity between her personal presence and her writing. Her life with Shelley was tumultuous; her life after his death continued the struggle. She is too important a figure to excite pity, but her story makes me more grateful than ever for my own quiet little life.
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most important works. I regret that she didn't integrate the two sections, but the division works well enough.Spark sees MS as a figure born into the 18th century milieu but cast into the Romanticism of the 19th century. She says that this explains the disparity between her personal presence and her writing. Her life with Shelley was tumultuous; her life after his death continued the struggle. She is too important a figure to excite pity, but her story makes me more grateful than ever for my own quiet little life.
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Subjects
Awards
Bram Stoker Award (Nominee — Non-Fiction — 1987)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1951 (as Child of Light)
1987 (revised)
Physical description
248 p.
ISBN
0525245359 / 9780525245353