Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
(August 30, 1797 – February 1, 1851)
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer. She is best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein (1818), arguably the first science fiction novel, published when she was just 21 years old.
She was the second wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she married in 1816.
Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Frankenstein[edit]
Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus (1818), the Gothic, scientific horror novel by Mary Shelley about a scientist creating life with a monster that destroys him, is one of the earliest works of science fiction.
In The Detached Retina: Aspects of SF and Fantasy (1995), Brian Aldiss argued that it should be considered the first true science fiction story because the central character "makes a deliberate decision" and "turns to modern experiments in the laboratory" to achieve fantastic results.
It inspired myriad derivative works and media.
Note that “Frankenstein” is the name of the scientist, not the monster.
| Person | 1797—1851 |
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