Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. [By M. W. Shelley.] by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

After her death, however, she was chiefly remembered only as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein. Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer in her own lifetime, though reviewers often missed the political edge to her novels. She was the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin and the writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, often known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, travel writer, and editor of the works of her husband, Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. After thinking for days, Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein after imagining a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made. In 1816, Mary, Percy and Lord Byron had a competition to see who could write the best horror story. Galvanism and occult ideas were topics of conversation among her companions, particularly her lover and future husband Percy B. She then journeyed to the region of Geneva, Switzerland, where much of the story takes place.

Shelley travelled through Europe in 1815 along the river Rhine in Germany, stopping in Gernsheim, 17 kilometres (11 mi) away from Frankenstein Castle, where two centuries before, an alchemist engaged in experiments. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20.

Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment.

Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley.

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. [By M. W. Shelley.] by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley