Frankenstein

Hey all! Just thought I'd throw in a little extra info about our good friend Mary Wollstonecraft. A fun fact about her is that her daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, is one of the most famous authors of all time-and you probably don't even recognize her name. (Get ready for some soap-opera worthy background knowledge...)
 Mary Wollstonecraft was married to the famous philosopher William Godwin, and had a daughter with him shortly before dying of complications from childbirth. The daughter was named after her now-deceased, famous feminist mother. At age 19, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin caused quite a stir when she ran off with the married Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. (The two liked to meet late at night at Mary Wollstonecraft's grave and exchange love letters). Two weeks after the suicide of Shelley's estranged wife, Harriet (it was a bit dramatic; she hurled herself off a bridge), Mary Godwin officially became Mary Shelley. Following the scandal, the Shelley's were ostracized by English society, and sought comfort at a friend's home in Geneva for the summer. Mary Shelley remembered it as quite a rainy season, with much time spent confined inside thinking, debating, and storytelling. On one stormy night, the men challenged each other to write the scariest story they could think up. Mary, who was the only woman that participated in the competition, wrote Frankenstein; a short story about a disturbed scientist who decides to play God, and creates a monster. (Spoiler alert: she won). Encouraged by her husband to write a full novel, Mary eventually finished the book, and published it anonymously to great success. However, it's true authorship was debated for years, as some believed that Percy had been the original writer of the tale. Mary Shelley later came forward to say that the only thing Percy had written of Frankenstein was the Preface.

Boom. Badass.

(Sorry for the long history rant, the Shelleys were a bit of an obsession of mine in high school, I could go on for days).