1797-1851
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Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born in Somers Town, London, on 30th August 1797 as the only child of Mary Wollstonecraft, a famous feminist and William Godwin, a philosopher and novelist. Unfortunately, her mother died of fever only 11 days after Mary was born and so Mary was brought up by her father and a much resented stepmother.
At the age of 16, Mary met, and fell in love with the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, a devotee of her father\'s teachings. He was married, but they ran away together to Europe. In late 1816 Shelley\'s wife committed suicide and he married Mary shortly afterwards, and so they went to live on the continent in March 1818. Percy B. Shelley drowned during a sailing trip in 1822. This, plus the fact that out of 4 children born only one survived beyond the first few years, left Mary in a considerable state of depression.
She returned to England in 1823 with her sole remaining son and set about earning a living by writing. Unfortunately, as an intellectual woman, most men regarded her with suspicion and even fear. In order to make her \'acceptable\' they said that she had \'a masculine mind\'. For these and other personal reasons life was not easy for her, but she was strong-minded and determined, and enjoyed a reasonable level of success. Sadly, much credit was only given to her writing long after her death.
During the last decade of her life she suffered intense headaches, but kept working, until eventually she went into a coma and died, of a brain tumour, on 1st February 1851 at her home in London, aged 53.
Almost two hundred years later her works continue to be re-evaluated and appreciated but, to the public at large, she is known only as the author of Frankenstein, which was completed in 1817.
"Frankenstein" has been the subject of at least 5 films for the cinema (the first in 1910) and 7 for Television.
Other works written by Mary Shelley are for example "The last man", "Collected tales and stories" or "The letters of Mary Shelley".
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