Waubonsee Community College

Romantic outlaws, the extraordinary lives of Mary Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley, Charlotte Gordon

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 609-623) and index

collective biography

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Romantic outlaws

bibliography

908704244

Charlotte Gordon

the extraordinary lives of Mary Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley

"Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and her daughter Mary Shelley (1797-1851) have each been the subject of numerous biographies by top tier writers, yet no author has ever examined their lives in tandem. Perhaps this is because these two amazing women never knew each other--Wollstonecraft died of infection at the age of 38, a week after giving birth to her daughter. Nevertheless their lives were closely intertwined, their choices, dreams and tragedies so eerily similar, it seems impossible to consider one without the other: both became famous writers; both fell in love with brilliant but impossible authors; both were single mothers and had children out of wedlock (a shocking and self-destructive act in their day); both broke out of the rigid conventions of their era and lived in exile; and both played important roles in the Romantic era during which they lived. The lives of both Marys were nothing less than extraordinary, providing fabulous material for Charlotte Gordon, a gifted story teller. She seamlessly weaves their lives together in back and forth narratives, taking readers on a vivid journey across Revolutionary France and Victorian England, from the Italian seaports to the highlands of Scotland, in a book that reads like a richly textured historical novel"--, Provided by publisher

Death and a birth (1797-1801) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : the early years (1759-1774) -- Mary Godwin : childhood and a new family (1801-1812) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : Hoxton and Bath (1774-1782) -- Mary Godwin : Scotland, an "eyry of freedom" (1810-1814) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : independence (1783-1785) -- Mary Godwin : "the sublime and rapturous moment" (1814) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : on the education of daughters (1785-1787) -- Mary Godwin : the break (1814) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : London (1786-1787) -- Mary Godwin : London and Bishopsgate (1814-1815) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : the first vindication (1787-1791) -- Mary Godwin : "mad, bad and dangerous to know" (1816) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : "a revolution in female manners" (1791-1792) -- Mary Godwin : fits of fantasy (1816) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : Paris (1792-1793) -- Mary Shelley : retribution (1816-1817) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : in love (1792) -- Mary Shelley : Marlow and London (1817-1818) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : "motherhood" (1793-1794) -- Mary Shelley : Italy, "the happy hours" (1818-1819) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : abandoned (1794-1795) -- Mary Shelley : "our little Will" (1818-1819) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : "surely you will not forget me" (1795) -- Mary Shelley : "the mind of a woman" (1819) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : return home (1795-1796) -- Mary Shelley : "when winter comes" (1819-1820) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : "a humane and tender consideration" (1796) -- Mary Shelley : Pisa (1820-1821) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : in love again (1796) -- Mary Shelley : "league of incest" (1821-1822) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : "I still mean to be independent" (1797) -- Mary Shelley : "it's all over" (1822) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : "a little patience" (1797) -- Mary Shelley : "the deepest solitude" (1823-1828) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : the memoir (1797-1801) -- Mary Shelley : a writing life (1832-1836) -- Mary Wollstonecraft : the wrongs (1797-1798) -- Mary Shelley : ramblings (1837-1848) -- Mary and Mary : heroic exertions