Synopses & Reviews
Review
"...give[s] Shelley her due as a prominent woman of letters for thirty years, not a one-book wonder." Caroline Franklin, Times Literary Supplement
Review
"The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley, edited by Esther Schor, pulls together a lively and original collection of essays from a range of distinguished contributors. Perhaps the most striking thing about this volume is the impression it succeeds in giving of Mary Shelley not as some adjunct to Percy Bysshe (indeed, Susan Wolfson's impressive study of the editorial work she performed on her poet-husband's writings makes it clear the degree to which she shaped the poet's reception in the decades after his death), but as a radical and innovative thinker in her own right." Kate Flint, Studies in English Literature
Review
"The Cambirdge Companion to Mary Shelley fulfills the admirable project of providing in one compact volume an introduction to and crticism of most of Shelley's oeuvre....this companion is an excellent introduction to such a discussion." - Staci Stone, Murray State University, South Atlantic Review
Synopsis
In The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley, leading scholars discuss her work in several fascinating contexts: literary history, aesthetic and literary culture, the legacies of her parents William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, and of course the life and afterlife in cinema and robotics of her most famous work Frankenstein. Other topics covered include Mary Shelley as a biographer and cultural critic and her travel writing. The contributions are sophisticated but accessible, challenging but lucid, and are complemented by a chronology, a guide to further reading and a select filmography.
Table of Contents
Chronology; Preface; Part I. 'The Author of Frankenstein': 1. Making a 'monster': an introduction to Frankenstein Anne K. Mellor; 2. Frankenstein, Matilda, and the legacies of Godwin and Wollstonecraft Pamela Clemit; 3. Frankenstein, feminism, and literary theory Diane Long Hoeveler; 4. Frankenstein on Film Esther Schor; 5. Frankenstein's futurity: from replicants to robotics Jay Clayton; Part II. Fictions and Myths: 6. Valperga Stuart Curran; 7. The last man Kari E. Lokke; 8. Historical novelist Deidre Lynch; 9. Falkner and other fictions Kate Ferguson Ellis; 10. Stories for the Keepsake Charlotte Sussman; 11. Proserpine and Midas Judith Pascoe; Part III. Professional Personae: 12. Mary Shelley, editor Susan J. Wolfson; 13. Letters: the public/private self Betty T. Bennett; 14. Mary Shelley as biographer Greg Kucich; 15. Mary Shelley's travel writing Jeanne Moskal; 16. Mary Shelley as cultural critic Timothy Morton; Further reading; Selected filmography.