Roger Dodsworth and Lodore

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Two short stories by Mary Shelley are combined in this work. Roger Dodsworth, published in 1826 presents the protagonist, revived from death. A thrilling sequence of events follows as Roger Dodsworth comes back from the dead. Ladore, published in 1835, presents the theme of familial relations. Exploring the close ties between Lord Lodore and his daughter, the work also compares the newly settled colonies of America and with England.

223 pages, ebook

Published March 31, 2009

About the author

Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, often known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, travel writer, and editor of the works of her husband, Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin and the writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer in her own lifetime, though reviewers often missed the political edge to her novels. After her death, however, she was chiefly remembered only as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein. It was not until 1989, when Emily Sunstein published her prizewinning biography Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality, that a full-length scholarly biography analyzing all of Shelley's letters, journals, and works within their historical context was published.

The well-meaning attempts of Mary Shelley's son and daughter-in-law to "Victorianise" her memory through the censoring of letters and biographical material contributed to a perception of Mary Shelley as a more conventional, less reformist figure than her works suggest. Her own timid omissions from Percy Shelley's works and her quiet avoidance of public controversy in the later years of her life added to this impression.

The eclipse of Mary Shelley's reputation as a novelist and biographer meant that, until the last thirty years, most of her works remained out of print, obstructing a larger view of her achievement. She was seen as a one-novel author, if that. In recent decades, however, the republication of almost all her writings has stimulated a new recognition of its value. Her voracious reading habits and intensive study, revealed in her journals and letters and reflected in her works, is now better appreciated. Shelley's recognition of herself as an author has also been recognized; after Percy's death, she wrote about her authorial ambitions: "I think that I can maintain myself, and there is something inspiriting in the idea". Scholars now consider Mary Shelley to be a major Romantic figure, significant for her literary achievement and her political voice as a woman and a liberal.

Reviews

[Ⰰⱃⰿⰰⱀⰴ Ⱆⰾⰴⰵⱃⰻⰽⱁ Ⱅⰵⱄⰾⰰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mala zvona
Zagreb, 2022.
Objavljeno pod naslovom Smrtni besmrtnik i druge priče.
Izdanje sadrži sljedeće priče: Smrtni besmrtnik, O duhovima, Preobrazba te Roger Dodsworth.
Sve druge priče, izuzev Rogera, sam prije već bio pročitao. Bilo na engleskom, bilo na hrvatskom jeziku. Moram priznati kada sam kupovao ovu knjigu mislio sam da ništa nisam prije čitao.
Dakle, Lodore nisam pročitao, ne pojavljuje se u izdanju Malih zvona, ne mogu na ovoj mreži naći profil isključivo Rogera, zato pišem svoj osvrt pod ovim profilom knjige.
Najzanimljivije s ovom kratkom pričom je pripovjedač. Sama Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley je pripovjedačica, premda se ona gubi u prividu objektivnog heterodijegetičkog sveznajućeg pripovjedača.
Sve navedeno je u uskoj vezi s time da Shelley ovu priču prezentira kao esej, sama u prvom licu navodi mogućnost što bi se dogodilo da je Roger Dodsworth oživio nakon 166 godina koje je proveo zaleđen.
Uzgred; Roger Dodsworth je čovjek kojeg su navodno pronašli zaleđenog na Alpama te ga oživjeli nakon što je bio zaleđen 166 godina.
Gubi se granica eseja i kratke priče, romantičarsko poigravanje s književnim rodovima.
Navedeno se ne radi primarno radi estetičnosti same fantazofičnosti, već kako bi se analizirao temporocentrizam, veza temporocentrizma i našeg života.
Koliko nas kao pojedince određuje naše konkretno povijesno i društveno doba.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley je uistinu imala oštri i britki um.
Pozdrav ekipi iz vile Diodati!
Tama romantizma sjaji sveudilj! Navik!
Hasta luego mis murcielagos!

[Molly Meadowcroft · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fictional report of a resurrection about the importance of the era we are born into; how it forms us, how it is our home, and how we might not be able to cope in an era outside of it.