However, this construction reduces the last 30 years of Mary’s life, after her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley’s death, into a final chapter and coda. The organizational effect is compelling, as it allows the biographer and reader to consider all the elements of her experiences that certainly or potentially contributed to the creation of her still-resonant work of early science fiction. Configuring her text in this way, Sampson provides a strong narrative arc for her subject and pulls her reader into a rich account of Mary’s rather unstable early existence. Sampson divides the biography into two sections: Mary’s life before and during the publication of Frankenstein, entitled “The Instruments of Life” and the much shorter “Borne Away By the Waves,” which covers the period afterward. This structure serves as one of the biography’s strongest features, while also creating what this reviewer sees as a potential source of limitation. Sampson divides the biography into two sections: Mary’s life before and during the publication of Frankenstein, entitled “The Instruments of Life” and the much shorter “Borne Away By the Waves,” which covers the period afterward.Īs her subtitle suggests, Sampson frames her biography of Mary Shelley around this novel, viewing it as a watershed moment in the author’s life and career.
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