In the wet summer of 1816, Mary Shelley, then 18, was staying by Lake Geneva with Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and friends. Byron challenged them each to write a ghost story. After days of nothing, she imagined a scientist bringing a body to life. That idea became Frankenstein, published in 1818 when she was 20, and often called the first science fiction novel. She went on writing novels, stories and travel books for the rest of her life.
★ LEADER
COLLECTION C002 · NO. 009
★ COLLECTION LEADER
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein Author
EXTRA-ORDINARY TRAIT
CREATIVITY
JFDI PILLAR
I — INSTINCT
COUNTRY & REGION
England (UK & Ireland)
LIFESPAN
1797 – 1851
GENDER
Woman
EDITION
No.009
✦ DEFINING MOMENT
Writing Frankenstein by candlelight at Villa Diodati, a storm over Lake Geneva, 1816.
✦ ARCHIVAL DOSSIER
The Story
✦ VERIFIED QUOTE
“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful." Frankenstein, verified)”
✦ DID YOU KNOW?
Frankenstein was first published without her name, and many readers assumed Percy Shelley had written it.
✦ YOUR TURN
What idea have you been sitting on that only you could write?
COLLECTIBLE EDITIONS
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