5 Facts about Mary Shelley and Her novel

A miniature by Reginald Easton

1. The full title of the book is: Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus 
2. Dr. Frankenstein's creation does not have a name.
3. Like Mary Shelley, Frankenstein was a vegetarian: “My food is not that of man. I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment.”
4. Mary Shelley was 18 when she began the novel.  It was published anonymously in 1818.
5. Shelley published anonymously because she was afraid she might lose custody of her children due to the nature of the story. At that time, many other women authors published anonymously in order for their work to be taken seriously. 

Page from Mary Shelley’s manuscript of Frankenstein, with annotations by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, MS. Abinger c. 56, fol. 21r

Resources: 

1. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-strange-and-twisted-life-of-frankenstein
2. https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/mary-shelley
3. https://theconversation.com/frankenstein-at-200-and-why-mary-shelley-was-far-more-than-the-sum-of-her-monsters-parts-90206
4. https://www.earthsave.ca/blog/frankensteins-monster-early-vegetarian-celebrity/
5. https://ivu.org/history/shelley/mary.html
6. https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/archivesandmanuscripts/2020/06/15/frankenstein-revisited-at-the-bodleian-libraries/​
7. Core Shelley Collection: https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/767​