Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was a nineteenth century English novelist, short story writer, biographer, essayist, and travel writer who is probably most famously known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. The first half of her life closely resembles a soap opera drama that began when she ran away with the then married Percy Shelley, and until his death, Mary found herself sucked into an almost gypsy-like existence, bouncing from place to place and abiding by a type of bohemian lifestyle which broke most social norms of that day and age. This poor woman endured one hell of a lot of bullshit, from her leech of a father to her cheating husband, and what is worse is that in spite of the fact that she was pregnant four or five times (that we know of), all of her children save one died before they reached one-year-old. But don’t let that fool you – Mary took after her own mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, when it came to perseverance, and though she is more remembered for Frankenstein than much of her later works, Mary Shelley was one of the most brilliant and badass writers of her generation, and arguably, the creator of the science fiction genre altogether. So let’s get this party started and dive in!
