Month: September 2024

BBC Radio 4 – You’re Dead to Me, Mary Shelley.

https://youtu.be/YhGn_9faEi4?si=TpmAFC_WQBpcKJNs

 

This is a great listen as a historian and comedian both analyse Mary Shelley’s work. Many men at the time refused to believe that a woman had written this great work of fiction. Mary’s mother dies soon after her birth which left Mary with a pervading guilt throughout her life. Her father remarried but Mary did not have an easy relationship with her. From an early age, Mary was exposed to great minds as her father regularly entertained Philosophers, Poets, and radical Politicians.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge when invited around for dinner described the Godwin children as ‘cadaverous with quite a catacombic vibe.

Percy Shelley stole her heart from an early age and rumours abound that they consummated their love on her mother’s grave. Whether this is an urban myth or not it does fire the imagination when you consider her penchant for all things grim and gothic.

Mary’s primary objective in writing Frankenstein was to examine the ethics surrounding technology at the time and to explore society’s attitude towards inclusion.

She suffered numerous tragedies throughout her life. In her early twenties, her beloved half-sister committed suicide. Her firstborn with Percy Shelly was born prematurely and later died. Their next two children passed months apart in 1818.

And just for a bit of silliness. As, after all, what is a day or a blog without taking the opportunity to be silly or to watch someone else being silly? Gene Wilder always does silliness to perfection.

 

Young Frankenstein (1974) Bloopers & Outtakes

 

https://youtu.be/tOjH-yoEJe0?si=ukCZvXZpVV3Fz9eo

 

 

All the best

Stay fab

Adele

Dylan Moran is hilarious in this clip where he states a confessed generalisation

• All Women are Mary Shelly and all men are The Monster

https://youtu.be/Af2vGh3t-o4?si=_YB1yebWcnz_B_NR

 

Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin were Mary’s famous parents. Her father was a radical politician, eschewing democracy for a self-governing world.

Frankenstein is written within the gothic and romantic genre. What is truly fascinating about Frankenstein’s Monster is that its powers are not gained from magic but rather scientific knowledge which was being discussed at the time the book was first published.

Mary Shelly was light years ahead of her time. And to have written her most famous novel at such a young age is remarkable. Like her father, she was a renegade and she idolised both her parents. Her mother was one of the most famous original feminists. A Vindication of The Rights of Woman was her greatest work.

Some say the novel asks the question of whether we should fear monstrosity, the creator of the monster or the monster itself. The whole realm of art and creativity can be examined within this lens. In other words, what do we owe to the things we create?

I love a monster. My favourite movie, as mentioned before, is Silence of The Lambs. Partly because I adore Sir Anthony Hopkins but also because I am fascinated by the fact that we love him, as a monster. And I still wonder, why we do that.

 

All the best

Stay fab

Adele

https://www.aclib.us/blog/frankenstein-day-or-birthday-mary-shelley

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley must be one of the greatest horror stories ever written. I am sure it is a metaphor for life in that we are all comprised of many different pieces/experiences. Alter egos are very common and wearing different masks for various social occasions is a powerful coping mechanism for me. Some days I feel like a goat and others like a ladybird, but that’s just me. How about you, or should I say ewe? Are you a sheep or a bull?

Top Ten Facts about Mary Shelley

• Her parents were famous intellectuals.
• She eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley and her father disapproved of her relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley.
• Mary was just 18 when she had the idea for Frankenstein and finished it aged 19! The novel was published in 1818 when she was just 21 years old.
• Frankenstein is one of the very first examples of the now celebrated and very popular genre of science-fiction.
• Mary thought of the idea for Frankenstein when she was in Geneva with Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, another famous poet. Byron challenged everyone to write a ghost story and Mary came up with Frankenstein, which she later developed into the novel we now know.
• Some of the ideas for Frankenstein came to Mary Shelley in a nightmare.
• Mary suffered terribly from the loss of her first three children; who all died at a young age. She had a fourth child who was named Percy after his father.
• Frankenstein Castle is a real castle in Germany. Some people think it may have inspired Mary’s story. Famous inventor Thomas Edison made a 15-minute film version of Frankenstein in 1910. It is thought to be one of the first horror films ever made.
• Mary taught herself many things. Her father did not have a lot of money to spend on her education, but she read a lot and made her own notes. She was also eager to learn from all the famous writers she knew and later wrote and published their biographies.
• Mary and Percy Shelley often wrote together and collaborated in their writing. They wrote a joint journal about their travels around Europe and encouraged and supported each other’s work. After Percy Shelley’s death, Mary supported herself and her son with her writing, which was very difficult and unusual for a woman to do at the time.

 

All the best

Stay fab

Adele