Shelley Unbound: Discovering Frankenstein's True Creator

by Scott D. de Hart, Joseph P. Farrell (Foreword)

Frankenstein was first released in 1818 ... anonymously .

The softly spoken or unspoken admission of many experts in English literature is that Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was not entirely responsible for writing  Frankenstein however the credit to her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley is generally limited to 4,000-5,000 words. In Dr. de Hart's   Shelley Unbound , Oxford educated researcher and scholar, Scott D. de Hart examines the overlooked  educational, biographical, alchemical, political, and scientific background of Percy Shelley. The author explores Shelley's scientific avocations, his disputes against church and state, and his connection to the illegal and infamous anti-Catholic organization, the Illuminati which provides the critical background to Frankenstein, a novel which only Percy Bysshe Shelley might have pulled off -  or wanted to -  in his predictable anonymous fashion.
Scott D. de Hart's fascinating investigation into Frankenstein and the lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Percy Shelley results in an inconvenient truth regarding what we have long believed to be a great early example of the feminist canon. This book is accessible to students of all ages, high school and college teachers, fans of horror fiction, graduate students, and also for those in the scholastic community. It is a fascinating and highly interesting read for all.
Scott D. de Hart was born and raised in Southern California. Dr. de Hart studied for his doctoral degree at the University of Oxford and obtained his Ph.D. specializing in nineteenth-century English literature, theology, and legal controversies.

Genres: Nonfiction

183 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Kerry]

This book was a readable, convincing argument for Percy Bysshe Shelley's authorship of Frankenstein. De Hart uses Shelley's writing habits, life experiences, and belief systems to create evidence for this conflict with history's acceptance of Mary as the author. If you love Frankenstein or Shelley, the book warrants a thorough reading.

However, I never much cared for Frankenstein and often found it suspicious that a 19-year-old girl in the presence of already great writers would have dreamed up a tale of early science and human nature on her own. And while I don't mind Shelley, neither do I adore him. So I admit to skipping through some sections that I felt were heavy handed. However, the first chapter had me convinced of Percy Shelley's authorship without much effort. The evidence seems clear, and any contradiction would, at this point, seem to be an unfair twisting of the facts.

De Hart makes it clear that he understands why scholars cling to the idea of Mary Shelley's authorship and how it can be dangerous to try to wrench female authorship from one of the cannon's great books. But neither does it do the legacy of women writers any good to credit work to them which isn't their own. To be clear, this book wasn't intended to restore authorship to Percy Bysshe Shelley as an act of justice; rather, it meant to delve more deeply into the psychology behind Frankenstein and reveal more about two of literature's most famous figures. This work creates a stronger understanding of the events that led to the writing of the famous Gothic novel, how Mary Shelley was an accomplice in her husband's scheme, and why it is important that we understand why the book was written at all.

[Lori]

I am totally convinced PBS wrote or at least had significant influence in the writing of Frankenstein. Mary did not have the breadth or depth of knowledge that her worldly well educated husband had.


Additionally the narrative reflects the ethos and themes present in Shelley’s other works.

[Ming]

Convincingly argued, and fascinating theory. However, the same points could've been covered in a long essay, without the need for an entire book.

[Carl Savich]

Mary told us in the 1831 Introduction that she was incapable of writing the novel because of her age (18 at the time, a high school graduate), and her lack of knowledge and experience (she never went to any school and had no real writing experience at the time). She also admitted that she knew nothing about science and was not interested in it. All the science in Frankenstein was written by her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. She wrote this herself, people! People just ignore what she wrote and make up their own nonsense. Mary also wrote that Frankenstein was a project created by her husband Percy Bysshe to make her famous. Yes, she wrote this. He dictated parts of the novel to her, wrote parts himself (the last 12.5 pages of the novel are in his handwriting where the Creature runs away and jumps in the ocean where he talks about funeral pyres and presents the thought processes of the Creature). He wrote the 1818 Preface. Take the line "I will glut the maw of death". No one on this planet could write that but poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The evidence is overwhelming! It was Ghostwritten. He wrote it but pretended it was his 18 year old wife Mary. Mary later revealed that, yes, he had written the Preface. Moreover, his poetic imagery, his ideas and concepts of God and atheism, his views on Erasmus Darwin and chemistry and science, are all in the book. His blasphemous view that God is dead and that man can create life was shocking in 1818 and was the reason no one would publish it. So the evidence is pretty clear and well-documented. But there is a Me Too or women's lib type of push back against Percy Bysshe Shelley. The novel has become a sort of Bible of feminism and women's lib. Mary invented everything for mankind and the book is second only to the Holy Bible in importance! (But Mary wrote she was incapable of writing it and said she knew nothing about science, people!!!! Please read the 1831 Intr.) So a lot of lies and hype. This is a good read and expose. I highly recommend it.