The Last Man - Softcover

Shelley, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1502339234 ISBN 13: 9781502339232

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

Mary Shelley (1797–1851) was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm in the Bay of La Spezia. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumour that was to kill her at the age of 53. Shelley’s other writings have grabbed more attention in the last 50 years, but she is still known around the world today for Frankenstein. Shelley had traveled the region in which the story takes place, and the topics of the occult ideas were themes of conversation among her companions. The actual storyline came from one of Shelley’s dreams, about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he created.

About this title

Review:

"Anne McWhir’s edition of The Last Man is first rate...Shelley herself would have been pleased!" -- Charles E. Robinson, University of Delaware

From the Publisher:

The Broadview Editions series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, lesser-known literature. Newly type-set and produced on high-quality paper in trade paperback format, the Broadview Editions series is a delight to handle as well as to read.

Each volume includes a full introduction, chronology, bibliography, and explanatory notes along with a variety of documents from the period, giving readers a rich sense of the world from which the work emerged.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1502339234
• ISBN 13: 9781502339232
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 226