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
