In attempting this, Sampson writes mostly in the present tense. In previous biographies, Sampson writes, Mary has often come off as “little more than a bright spot being tracked as she moves from one location to another” her goal is to “bring Mary closer to us.” Now, in time for the 200th anniversary of “Frankenstein,” comes another biography, “In Search of Mary Shelley,” by the British poet Fiona Sampson. Thus was born “Frankenstein Or, The Modern Prometheus,” about the creation of a desperately lonely monster who exacts vengeance on his maker by killing those closest to him, including his bride on their wedding night. Of course, Mary, not either of the male poets, won the challenge. But Mary’s life has unending fascination - her elopement as a pale, beautiful, brilliant 16-year-old with Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was already married with a child her starring role in Lord Byron’s famous challenge to the assembled company that rainy night on Lake Geneva, that each produce a ghost story. There is even a Mary Shelley encyclopedia. There have been more than 20 biographies of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, including one in 1951 by Muriel Spark and one in 2001, considered by many to be definitive, by Miranda Seymour, who had access to previously unpublished documents. IN SEARCH OF MARY SHELLEY By Fiona Sampson 304 pp.
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