I enjoyed Dracula and The Mysteries of Udolpho so much that I looked forward to absorbing this short, classic novel by Mary Shelley. I loved the book itself, but what I love the most is the story of its inception.
During the summer of 1816, Mary (then Wollstonecraft, soon to be Shelley), her boyfriend Percy Shelley and Lord Byron were on a protracted holiday near Lake Geneva, Switzerland. They challenged one another in a contest to see who could write the best ghost story. It was months before the victor emerged in none other than the underdog Mary Shelley's infamous horror story. Not only did she outdo two literary giants, but she did so at the young age of 18, with a story of a disturbing nature not befitting of an early 19th century girl. She must have been a pistol.
The story is well known enough that I won't recap it. Needless to say I love English literature and I have a growing fondness for the gothic genre of the past. I suppose this is quite possibly feeding my growing fondness for Stephen King.
Looking forward to my next horror read. Will it be King, more Radcliffe, or maybe Victor Hugo's Hunchback?
We shall see!
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