Who "REALLY" wrote...

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

I’ve never heard the rumor that Mary Shelly didn’t really write “Frankenstein,” (sp?) but I did read that some (male) contemporaries claimed “Wuthering Heights” couldn’t possibly have been composed by Emily Bronte or any other woman for that matter and the “real” author was her brother, Branwell. Never mind the fact he was a drunk and a loser who couldn’t hold down a job.

There was such prejudice against female writers once upon a time that the authors either had to use male pennames (See “George Eliot.” All three Bronte sisters had to as well before they were outted as women), or simply sign off as “A Woman” or “A Female.” This was still true into the 20th century, at least for female science fiction writers. The writer that the James Tiptree Jr. Award is named for was a woman.

Putting That English Degree to Good Use,
Patty

Link to Staff Report edited in. – CKDH

[Edited by C K Dexter Haven on 03-22-2001 at 03:57 PM]

2

The Staff Report was primarily and technically correct, but there should be a point of clarification.

Polidori did, in fact, write the novel Vampyre; however, he did not have it finished by the end of the party deadline.

Polidori was Lord Byron’s physician (and the object of much of Lord B.'s scorn and ridicule as the ultimate poseur who wanted to associate with literary greats in the hope that some of that greatness would rub off on him). Vampyre was started by Byron as his contribution to the game. He got no farther than a somewhat detailed character sketch and some basic plot notes before tiring of the project.

Polidori ended up with Byron’s notes (with his consent, figuring - I suspect - the pitiful hack would not be able to turn them into anything). Polidori did, as we all know, come up with something: A Romantic vampire based entirely on Lord Byron himself. Byron’s male protagonists in his other works were nearly always modeled after himself, and the vampire was no different.

As a result, the brooding, regal, charming, sensual vampire that has permeated our popular culture since Polidori’s publication is a reflection (sorry about the pun) of, arguably, the greatest poet of the English language.

There. I feel better for that little rant.

3

Check out this review of Frankenstein written in 1818:
http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/mschronology/reviews/bemrev.html

Search for the word “percy” and you’ll get this quote:
“Frankenstein is a novel upon the same plan with Saint Leon; it is said to be written by Mr Percy Bysshe Shelley, who, if we are rightly informed, is son-in-law to Mr Godwin; and it is inscribed to that ingenious author.”

However, right after that review, according to this page:
http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/mschronology/chrono.html
Mary Shelly wrote to the author, thanked him and said she was the author.

I add both links because I don’t think Percy Shelley wrote the book, but it was interesting to see this rumor come out right after the book’s original publication.

4

the reason earlier critics thought percy wrote it was b/c it didn’t list an author, and percy wrote the introduction, so everyone assumed he was the author. mary quickly corrected the rumors and later editions had her name on them.

5

The battle rages.
http://killdevilhill.com/romanticschat/messages2/424.html

6

Frankenstein is a birth-fantasy. Since Mary Shelly was already a mother at age 19, would she have really written a fantasy about giving birth, about creating life?

Percy Shelly was envious of Mary Shelly’s parentage: her mother Mary Wollstonecraft wrote Maria: the Wrongs of Woman, an early novel of the feminist movement (about 1797), while Mary’s father was the philosopher William Godwin. Percy thought that with parents like those, Mary should of course be an author. (If you want some wild tales, read about this family. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, as an early feminist, was clearly sleeping around and loathe to marry Godwin, doing so only a few months before Mary was born; Percy had two women pregnant at once; Percy’s wife killed herself, enabling him to marry Mary, etc.) Anyway, Percy clearly wanted his wife to be an author, and may have helped her extensively.

Another argument that Frankenstein was written by a man has to do with the characterizations of men and women. It’s a story of one man, the doctor, telling the tale to another man, a ship’s captain, about creating and chasing the (male) monster. The female characters are poorly drawn stick figures: the virginal wife of the doctor, for example. There are few other examples of 19th century tales – written by women – that so emphasize male characters over female: Silas Marner by George Elliott comes to mind. Even a story like Adam Bede is far more about the women involved than the male of the title.

I would also add that, not only did Percy Shelley admit to writing the preface, but also that it’s written in the first person, “My story… my chief concern…”

In all fairness to Mary Shelley, however, the Frankenstein we are familiar with is not the 1818 version, but the 1834 revision which occurred after Percy Shelley died. And she did manage to make a living with her writing, although much of it was about her travels. I’d like to see someone do a computer analysis of the early version of Frankenstein against her writings after Percy Shelley died, to see how the word use compares.

Interesting question, though, isn’t it?

7

Maybe because she knew something about the subject and had something to say? Actually, the novel is less a “birth fantasy” than a woman’s critique of the callous attitude men have regarding birth and children. Most of the tragedy occurs in the book not because Victor Frankenstein is a mad scientist [he is not] but because he is a neglectful father who abandons his child.

Yes, and I give editorial advice to my wife when she writes terms papers for school, but that doesn’t make me co-author.

Before advancing Percy Shelley as a co-author of FRANKENSTEIN, people should take a step back and think about what really goes into writing a book. Authors seek feedback, from friends and editors. Some of that feeback finds its way into the final work. But that’s not enough to warrant a co-author credit.

Percy Shelly himself told FRANKENSTEIN’s publishers that “as to any mere inaccuracies of language, I should feel myself authorized to amend them when revising the proofs.” He also said that “on my part I shall of course do my utmost (for my friend)… I have paid considerable attention to the correction of such few instances of baldness of style as necessarily occurs in the production of a very young writer.”

This is a picture perfect example of what an editor does. I myself work as an editor, so I frequently correct syntax, change words, or make little embellishments without trying to take credit for authorship of the work.

So, men can write only male characters and women can write only female characters? I guess INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE must have really been written by Stan Rice.

8

And we all know that people like that never succeed as artists, eh?

I want to know why “Jr”. Did she ever say anything about “his” notional father?

9

Well, some authors do prefer it that way. It is well known that Jane Austen never writes a scene involving only men.

10

ScriptAnalyst said

I could be wrong, but I saw the book as basically saying: “Take responsibility for your actions or else, see what happens.” I think it would be oversimplifying the issue to say it was a critique of men and their attitude regarding birth & children. It seemed broader than that to me. I saw in it the message that science can progress very quickly but that scientists are always responsible for their “discoveries”. Not the usual “some things are better left alone” but instead, “Here is what happens when irresponsible people try to change the natural order of things.” I would almost say that Albert Einstein was an anti-Frankenstein, in the way he was shattered to know that his research had made it possible for someone else to develop the Atomic Bomb.