Mary Shelley and Europe

Mary Shelley in Europe studies the European background of Mary Shelley’s works and their reception. This two-fold approach is inspired by Mary Shelley dans son œuvre, Jean de Palacio’s seminal work that has remained untranslated in English. The essays in the volume bring new insights on editing and establishing the canon of Mary Shelley’s works; they investigate her interest in European literature, history and landscape; and they highlight her unique partnership with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. In considering Mary Shelley’s European and world-wide reception the authors adopt an interdisciplinary approach and explore both the ‘Frankenstein myth’ and the ‘Mary Shelley myth’ in drama, contemporary media and visual culture. At a time when literary studies adopt a transnational perspective and focus on hybrid identities, these essays show that Mary Shelley’s work appears surprisingly contemporary.