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Il mortale immortale; Metamorfosi
Testo originale a fronte
Il mortale immortale e Metamorfosi , sono ambientati in luoghi e tempi lontani dall'Inghilterra del XIX secolo e l'interesse della scrittrice va alle intemperanze dell'animo umano, con uno sguardo peculiare ai rapporti tra i due sessi, che dopo i capricci e la gelosia tendono a volgersi verso l'affetto e la compassione. l'elemento magico domina le vicende dei protagonisti.
Il mortale immortale e Metamorfosi , sono ambientati in luoghi e tempi lontani dall'Inghilterra del XIX secolo e l'interesse della scrittrice va alle intemperanze dell'animo umano, con uno sguardo peculiare ai rapporti tra i due sessi, che dopo i capricci e la gelosia tendono a volgersi verso l'affetto e la compassione. l'elemento magico domina le vicende dei protagonisti.
107 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1831
1 person is currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2,341 books8,517 followersMary 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 10, 2024
Solo ELLA puede escribir textos así de espeluznantes
November 8, 2025
Dos relatos breves que exploran la inmortalidad, la identidad y el deseo de trascender los límites humanos. Shelley combina lo fantástico con lo filosófico, en un estilo gótico y reflexivo. Una lectura interesante para quienes disfrutan de lo simbólico y lo oscuro, pero no necesariamente la más envolvente de su obra.
August 7, 2024
“porque el cuerpo es mortal pero las almas son inmortales”
November 1, 2024
Il mortale immortale 4 ⭐
Metamorfosi 3⭐
Metamorfosi 3⭐
January 8, 2025
"...that thought would cease to work in my brain, and my heart beat no more with emotions varied only by new forms of sadness!"
October 10, 2025
Envuelve en misterio, su escritura guia al lector entre las experiencias de los protagonistas.
September 17, 2020
TRANSFORMATION by MARY SHELLEY
Firstly, TRANSFORMATION
“...a thousand fanged thoughts stung me to the heart.”
If you were not aware of the author's name then the story of 'Frankenstein' echoes in this tale. It's as if with deceptive charm the two central characters of 'Frankenstein' are merged and then split and culminating in a surprisingly redemptive 'transformation.'
“The opening rose in May was not more sweet than this dear girl.” (p4)
“I became a spoilt child. Who could control me? Not the letters and advice of Torella. Only strong necessity visiting me in the abhorred shape of an empty purse.” (p6)
“I listened with indignation – I repelled him with disdain.” (p9)
Sylphlike = (of a woman or girl) slender and graceful. (p12)
Fascinating depiction of the seashore and rocky harbour and ocean, gothic indeed in that the scenery and weather (like Samuel Colridge's writings before Shelly, and the Brontes' after her) depict the spiritually and emotional state of the narrator.
“'Oh, you cousin of Lucifer!'” (p15)
“Slowly paced the bright, bright orb up the eastern sky; long it lingered in the zenith, and still more slowly wandered down the west: it touched the horizon's verge – it was lost!” (p18)
…
Mary Shelley’s THE MORTAL IMMORTAL
Intriguing and somewhat beguiling. I love the premise as an inversion of our fear of death, only to highlight the darker side of living eternally. ****
My favourite lines are:
“.. she often visited the cottage of my father, and when forbidden to go thither, she would stray toward the neighboring wood, and meet me beside its shady fountain.” (p33)
“Death! mysterious, ill-visaged friend of weak humanity! Why alone of all mortals have you cast me from your sheltering fold? Oh, for the peace of the grave! the deep silence of the iron-bound tomb! that thought would cease to work in my brain, and my heart beat no more with emotions varied only by new forms of sadness!”
“And the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life. Such an enigma is man -- born to perish -- when he wars, as I do, against the established laws of his nature.”
“(...) but, oh! the weight of never-ending time—the tedious passage of the still-succeeding hours!”
“Sometimes I fancy age advancing upon me. One grey hair I have found. Fool! do I lament? Yes, the fear of age and death often creeps coldly into my heart; and the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life.”
….
The story opens with:
JULY 16, 1833. --This is a memorable anniversary for me; on it I complete my three hundred and twenty-third year!
The Wandering Jew?--certainly not. More than eighteen centuries have passed over his head. In comparison with him, I am a very young Immortal.
Am I, then, immortal? This is a question which I have asked myself, by day and night, for now three hundred and three years, and yet cannot answer it.
I detected a gray hair amidst my brown locks this very day-- that surely signifies decay. Yet it may have remained concealed there for three hundred years--for some persons have become entirely white headed before twenty years of age.
I will tell my story, and my reader shall judge for me. I will tell my story, and so contrive to pass some few hours of a long eternity, become so wearisome to me. For ever! Can it be? to live for ever!
….............................
Firstly, TRANSFORMATION
“...a thousand fanged thoughts stung me to the heart.”
If you were not aware of the author's name then the story of 'Frankenstein' echoes in this tale. It's as if with deceptive charm the two central characters of 'Frankenstein' are merged and then split and culminating in a surprisingly redemptive 'transformation.'
“The opening rose in May was not more sweet than this dear girl.” (p4)
“I became a spoilt child. Who could control me? Not the letters and advice of Torella. Only strong necessity visiting me in the abhorred shape of an empty purse.” (p6)
“I listened with indignation – I repelled him with disdain.” (p9)
Sylphlike = (of a woman or girl) slender and graceful. (p12)
Fascinating depiction of the seashore and rocky harbour and ocean, gothic indeed in that the scenery and weather (like Samuel Colridge's writings before Shelly, and the Brontes' after her) depict the spiritually and emotional state of the narrator.
“'Oh, you cousin of Lucifer!'” (p15)
“Slowly paced the bright, bright orb up the eastern sky; long it lingered in the zenith, and still more slowly wandered down the west: it touched the horizon's verge – it was lost!” (p18)
…
Mary Shelley’s THE MORTAL IMMORTAL
Intriguing and somewhat beguiling. I love the premise as an inversion of our fear of death, only to highlight the darker side of living eternally. ****
My favourite lines are:
“.. she often visited the cottage of my father, and when forbidden to go thither, she would stray toward the neighboring wood, and meet me beside its shady fountain.” (p33)
“Death! mysterious, ill-visaged friend of weak humanity! Why alone of all mortals have you cast me from your sheltering fold? Oh, for the peace of the grave! the deep silence of the iron-bound tomb! that thought would cease to work in my brain, and my heart beat no more with emotions varied only by new forms of sadness!”
“And the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life. Such an enigma is man -- born to perish -- when he wars, as I do, against the established laws of his nature.”
“(...) but, oh! the weight of never-ending time—the tedious passage of the still-succeeding hours!”
“Sometimes I fancy age advancing upon me. One grey hair I have found. Fool! do I lament? Yes, the fear of age and death often creeps coldly into my heart; and the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life.”
….
The story opens with:
JULY 16, 1833. --This is a memorable anniversary for me; on it I complete my three hundred and twenty-third year!
The Wandering Jew?--certainly not. More than eighteen centuries have passed over his head. In comparison with him, I am a very young Immortal.
Am I, then, immortal? This is a question which I have asked myself, by day and night, for now three hundred and three years, and yet cannot answer it.
I detected a gray hair amidst my brown locks this very day-- that surely signifies decay. Yet it may have remained concealed there for three hundred years--for some persons have become entirely white headed before twenty years of age.
I will tell my story, and my reader shall judge for me. I will tell my story, and so contrive to pass some few hours of a long eternity, become so wearisome to me. For ever! Can it be? to live for ever!
….............................
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews