This year marks the bicentenary of Mary Shelleys horror novel Frankenstein. Amanda Hodges explores its Sussex connections.
“It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.”
These were the first words that Mary Shelley (in the fictional guise of Victor Frankenstein) recollected committing to paper when remembering the genesis of her ground-breaking novel Frankenstein, first published 200 years ago in 1818. Not only was it then highly unusual for a woman to write fiction but Mary’s novel would prove revolutionary within its gothic horror genre, fostering the literary cult of the mad scientist intent upon uncovering what Victor calls “the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life”.
The daughter of famous parents, novelist and political philosopher William Godwin and pioneering feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary had always been encouraged to think independently and knew from an early age that she wished to write. Highly intelligent, forthright and perceptive, she seemed destined for a remarkable life and this she would certainly have, albeit one tinged with frequent tragedy and considerable hardship as well as romantic intensity.
This story is from the October 2018 edition of Sussex Life.
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This story is from the October 2018 edition of Sussex Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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