Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

A selective list of online literary criticism for Romantic novelist Mary Shelley, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars, articles published in reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the Modern Language Association Guidelines for Authors of Web Pages

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Introduction

"Mary Shelley." The Victorian Web. Ed. George Landow.

"Study Guide for Frankenstein." An introduction to the novel and its historical context, from Glenco/McGraw-Hill.

Allen, Graham. "Mary Shelley." The Literary Encyclopedia. Eds. Robert Clark, Emory Elliott, Janet Todd. An introduction to the poet, from a database that provides signed literary criticism by experts in their field, and is available to individuals for a reasonably-priced subscription.

Frankenstein

Anderson, Robert. Anderson considers theories of work and leisure time in Frankenstein. "'Alternate Labour and Relaxation': An Introduction," issues of labor and leisure in Frankenstein. Romanticism on the Net 27 (2002).

Anderson, Robert W. "Body Parts That Matter: Frankenstein, or The Modern Cyborg?" Women Writers [online journal]10/5/99.

Austin, Andrea. "Frankie and Johnny: Shelley, Gibson, and Hollywood's Love Affair with the Cyborg," Romanticism on the Net 21 (2001). William Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic," Frankenstein, and the connection between the problem of gender identity and artificial intelligence.

Chiu, Frances. "'Dark and dangerous designs': Tales of Oppression, Dispossession, and Repossession, 1770-1800," [Gothic novel]. Romanticism on the Net 28 (2002).

Corbett, Robert. Introduction to Romanticism and Science Fictions. Romanticism on the Net 21, 2001.

Florescu, Radu. A review of Florescu's In Search of Frankenstein: Exploring the Myths behind Mary Shelley's Monster. (Robson Books, 1996). Reviewed by Stephen Derwent Partington, Romanticism on the Net 7 (1997).

Hogle, Jerrold E. "Frankenstein's Dream: An Introduction." Romantic Circles Praxis Series/Frankenstein's Dream, Feb. 2003.

Hunter, J. Paul, ed. A review of the Norton Critical Edition of Frankenstein (1996). Reviewed by Julia Paulman Kielstra, Romanticism on the Net 4 (1996).

Marshall, Tim. A review of Marshall's Murdering To Dissect: Grave-robbing, Frankenstein and The Anatomy Literature. A review by Mark Sandy in Romanticism on the Net.

McEvoy, Emma. "Groundless Metaphors and Living Maps in the Writing of Mary Shelley." Romanticism on the Net 40 (2005).

Morgan, Monique. "Frankenstein's Singular Events: Inductive Reasoning, Narrative Technique, and Generic Classification." Romanticism on the Net 44 (2006).

O'Dea, Gregory. "Framing the Frame: Embedded Narratives, Enabling Texts, and Frankenstein" Explores the notion that "In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, we might distinguish three frame sequences: a reading sequence, an action sequence, and a narrative sequence." In Romanticism on the Net 31 (2003).

Redfield, Marc. "Frankenstein's Cinematic Dream." Romantic Circles Praxis Series/Frankenstein's Dream, Feb. 2003.

Rieder, John. "Patriarchal Fantasy and the Fecal Child in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and its Adaptations." Romantic Circles Praxis Series/Frankenstein's Dream, Feb. 2003.

Robinson, Charles E., ed. A review of The Frankenstein Notebooks: A Facsimile Edition of Mary Shelley's Manuscript Novel, 1816-17. 2 vols. (Garland Publishing, 1996). A review by Michael Laplace-Sinatra, in Romanticism on the Net 6 (1997).

VanWinkle, Matthew. "Mocking Stupendous Mechanisms: Romantic Parody and Frankenstein's Dream." Romantic Circles Praxis Series/Frankenstein's Dream, Feb. 2003.

Williams, Anne. "'Mummy, possest': Sadism and Sensibility in Shelley's Frankenstein." Romantic Circles Praxis Series/Frankenstein's Dream, Feb. 2003.

Other Literary Criticism

Albright, Richard S. "'In the mean time, what did Perdita?': Rhythms and Reversals in Mary Shelley's The Last Man." On Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's 1826 novel. Romanticism on the Net 13 (1999).

Brewer, William D. "Unnationalized Englishmen in Mary Shelley's Fiction." Romanticism on the Net 11 (1998).

Brewer, William D. "William Godwin, chivalry, and Mary Shelley's The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck." Papers on Language and Literature, Spring 1999.

Brewer, William D. "Mary Shelley on the therapeutic value of language." Papers on Language and Literature, Fall 1994.

Campbell Orr, Clarissa. "Mary Shelley's Rambles in Germany and Italy, the Celebrity Author, and the Undiscovered Country of the Human Heart." Romanticism on the Net 11 (1998). On Mary Shelley's 1844 travel book. Campbell Orr considers the book as a portrait of Mary Shelley's attitudes and the era in which it was written, a demonstration of the kind of self-portrait possible for a woman author of travel books.

Conger, Syndy M. A review of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: An Introduction, by Betty T. Bennett. Romanticism on the Net 28 (2002).

Corbett, Robert. Introduction to "Romanticism and Science Fictions," Romanticism on the Net 21 (2001).

Crook, Nora. "Pecksie and the Elf: Did the Shelleys Couple Romantically?" Romanticism on the Net 18 (2000). On the literary collaboration and sexual relationship of Percy and Mary Shelley.

Crook, Nora. Reviews of Mary Shelley's, The Last Man, edited by McWhir, Anne; and Mary Shelley's Lodore, edited by Lisa Vargo. Romanticism on the Net.

Crook, Nora. A review of Mary Shelley's Valperga, edited by Stuart Curran. Romanticism on the Net 12 (1998).

Garbin, Lidia. "The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck: Walter Scott in the Writings of Mary Shelley." Romanticism on the Net 6 (1997). Garbin considers the change in direction, from Gothicism to historical romance, in Mary Shelley's fiction after Frankenstein.

Hilton, Nelson. Freudian discussion of Mary Shelley from Nelson Hilton's Lexis Complexes (University of Georgia Press, 1995).

Hopkins, Lisa. "The Last Man. and the Language of the Heart." Romanticism on the Net 22 (2001). On Mary Shelley's use of memory and personal experience in The Last Man..

Hopkins, Lisa. "Memory at the End of History: Mary Shelley's The Last Man." Romanticism on the Net 6 (1997).

Kielstra, Julia Paulman. Reviews of Warren Stevenson's Romanticism and the Androgynous Sublime; and Johanna M. Smith's Mary Shelley Revisited. Romanticism on the Net 6 (1997).

Labbe, Jacqueline. Labbe compares the use of maternal imagery in the writings of Charlotte Smith, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Robinson, Mary Shelley, and Maria Elizabeth Robinson. "The Romance of Motherhood: Generation and the Literary Text." Romanticism on the Net 26 (2002).

Mandell, Laura. "Introduction: The Poetess Tradition." Romanticism on the Net. 29-30 (2003).

McKeeverr, Kerry Ellen. "Writing and Melancholia: Saving the Self in Mary Shelley's 'The Mourner'." Romanticism on the Net 14 (1999).

Tomalin, Claire, ed. A review of Lost and Found: Mary Shelley, Maurice, or the Fisher's Cot: A Tale. Romanticism on the Net review by A. A. Markley.

White, Daniel E. "'The god undeified': Mary Shelley's Valperga, Italy, and the Aesthetic of Desire." Writes White: "Shelley offers a stark reading of the period from the failure of the French Revolution through 1821 as a mutually destructive polemic between a dominant political, social, and aesthetic masculine ideology and its feminine other, a polemic that significantly found its fittest expression and conclusion on Italian soil." In Romanticism on the Net 6 (1997).

Wolley, Rachel. A review of Iconoclastic Departures: Mary Shelley After 'Frankenstein', by Conger, Syndy M., Frederick S. Frank, and Gregory O'Dea, eds. Romanticism on the Net.

Wordsworth, Jonathan. A review of The Bright Work Grows: Women Writers of the Romantic Age (Woodstock, 1997). Reviewed by Mark Sandy in Romanticism on the Net 22 (2001).

Bibliography & Web Sites

A hypertext edition of The Mortal Immortal, by Mary Shelley. Ed. Michael Laplace-Sinatra, at Romantic Circles

A hypertext edition of The Last Man, by Mary Shelley. Edited by Steven Jones, at Romantic Circles

Harding, Anthony John. "New Texts and Textual Scholarship. Romanticism on the Net 19 (August 2000)

Lawson, Shanon. Nineteenth century reviews of Mary Shelley's books. Romantic Circles

Mandell, Laura. "Canons Die Hard: A Review of the New Romantic Anthologies." Romanticism on the Net 7 (1997)

Mandell, Laura and Michael Gamer. "On Romanticism, the Canon, and the Web." Romanticism on the Net 10 (May 1998)

Mellor, Anne and Richard Matlak. "Anthologising the New Romanticism." Romanticism on the Net 7 (August 1997)

Romanticism on the Net. Ed. Michael Eberle-Sinatra. An international, peer-reviewed electronic journal devoted to British Romantic studies, an impressive scholarly enterprise that has been making essays freely available since 1996.

Romantic Circles. Eds. Neil Fraistat, Steven E. Jones, and Carl Stahmer. "A refereed scholarly website devoted to the study of Romantic-period literature and culture." An innovative publication on topics in Romanticism.

"A Romantic Natural History." Ed. Ashton Nichols. The relationships between literary works and natural history in the century before Darwin, with articles on Byron and other Romantics.

Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature: A scholarly journal devoted to the study of women's literature of all periods and nationalities [Feminist and Women's Studies].

Women's Writing, an international scholarly journal focusing on women's writing up to the end of the long nineteenth century. A sample copy is available for viewing, requires registration.

Removed

Smith, Orianne. Smith finds connections between the work of Mary Shelley and French artist Annette Messager. "The Feminist Tradition of Mary Shelley and Annette Messager" http://www.luc.edu/faculty/osmith/anmary2.html.

Simpkins, Scott. "Mary Shelley revisited." Simpkins reviews The Other Mary Shelley: Beyond Frankenstein edited by Audrey Fisch, Anne Mellor and Esther Schor and Mary Shelley's Early Novels: "This Child of Imagination and Misery" by Jane Blumberg. Novel: A Forum on Fiction, Spring 1995.

Sonstroem, Eric. "Do You Really Want a Revolution? CyberTheory Meets Real-Life Pedagogical Practice in FrankenMOO and the Conventional Literature Classroom." A "skeptical yet somewhat optimistic" look at the usefulness of educational MOOs, and FrankenMOO in particular. College Literature (2006).

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