Mathilda

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, María Mazzocchi (Translator)

Esta novela relata la historia de una mujer que, desde su lecho de muerte, confiesa su tragedia: el amor incestuoso de su padre (…). Escrita en forma de una larga carta dirigida a su único amigo, Woodville, la protagonista revela el secreto de su reclusión en un páramo encerrado por montañas y alejado de todo rastro de vida humana.

​​Como curtida artesana de palabras, Mary Shelley selecciona las herramientas que aprendió a emplear a lo largo de sus lecturas para crear la intriga, exaltar las pasiones y detonar el drama. Eso es Mathilda, la propuesta de algo impensado para la época. La mujer que, sin esperanzas, se recluye sola en un páramo; la heredera de una inmensa fortuna que burla el sistema de vigilancia impuesto a las jóvenes en edad de casarse, simulando un suicidio para zarpar en el primer barco que la lleve a tierras lejanas.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Gothic, Short Stories, Horror, Novella, 19th Century

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

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

[Sean Barrs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matilda is a rather neglected little novella. Mary Shelley never saw it published in her lifetime because her father kept the manuscript. He refused to return it because he was horrified at the suggestions of incest in the relationship between Matilda and her father which echoed some of their own real-life relationship.

That is not to say William Godwin actually had incestuous feelings for his daughter, but much of their own separation and anxiety is here along with some parallels in the historical details. And it is understandable why he would not want this work to be out there. It portrays him (or his likeness) as a man tortured and in pain; he mourns the tragic loss of his wife (Mary Wollstonecraft) and becomes consumed with a burning passion for his daughter, and these feelings torment him as he tries to repress them. In the end, he has to abandon his daughter for fear that he may act on them. Had this been published, there would have been far too many incorrect and damaging rumours circulating about Godwin. He had to keep it. He had to hide it.

So this will always be a first draft. And it falls short of its (potential) greatness. Given enough time and a chance to actually see it again, Mary could have made this into something much better. I do wonder why Mary wrote it and had the gall to send it to her father. He must have been so confused. Maybe it was a dark fantasy of Mary’s. Maybe it was a way for her to try to comprehend the death of her real-life mother and the possessive behaviour her father manifested in its aftermath. Maybe she was trying to explore loneliness and grief, and the extremities of it and how it can drive an otherwise rational mind mad. If you could take the themes away from the details of the plot, it could have proven to be a successful piece of writing in its era.

Indeed, it sits firmly within the romantic movement, displaying a large amount of sentiment towards animals and the natural world. The likeness of Mary’s husband (Percy Shelley) appears (again) as philanthropic poet who desires to improve human society with his ideas and dreams. Like Caleb Williams, her father’s most successful work, it is a novel of pursuit and tyranny.

The problem with a lot of Mary’s fiction is that it is overly auto biographical and as reader I can not help but place her directly into it. She draws on the details of her own experiences too much. The more I research her life, the more I see suggestions of it within her fiction; it is a little bit limiting to constantly recreate elements of your own life in fiction over and over: the same characters (slightly different versions of the real people she knew) repeat themselves across her work.

And whilst it can be an effective tool, once used too much it demonstrates an over preoccupation with certain themes. She begins to seem obsessive about them and this says a lot I think.

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[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

EDIPO STA PER MORIRE


Johann Heinrich Füssli: Incubo (1781) Detroit Institute of Arts. Füssli realizzò diverse versioni di questa sua celebre opera.

Edipo sta per morire.
Così si legge a pagina 2 (almeno nella mia edizione, che non sono riuscito a ritrovare in rete: Edizioni delle Donne).
La storia inizia con Mathilda che vive isolata dal mondo, e in punto di morte scrive al suo amico poeta (il Poeta) una lunga lettera, lunga quanto questo breve romanzo, per raccontargli la verità della sua vita.
Nella prima parte racconta i fatti, nella seconda quello che seguì ai fatti. La prima parte è azione, la seconda riflessione, contemplazione, passività.


Johann Heinrich Füssli: Mad Kate (anche Crazy Kate).

Per complicazioni in seguito al parto, la madre morì dandola alla vita.
Il Padre (che rimane senza nome, e quindi sempre e solo il Padre) per il dolore della perdita della sua amata moglie (Diana), non vuole neppure vedere la neonata, che rinnega e abbandona alla sorellastra. Si sente incapace di esercitare il suo ruolo di genitore, e fugge, scompare dalla vita della figlia per dedicarsi a un molto romantico vagabondaggio.
Fino all’età di 16 anni. Quando Mathilda ha sedici anni, e per sedici anni si è sentita abbandonata (dal Padre, dalla madre, da tutti) e non amata, il Padre ritorna finalmente pronto ad accogliere sua figlia e a prendersi cura di lei, a svolgere il suo ruolo.
Se non che, Mathilda è la copia perfetta, addirittura perfezionata, della madre-moglie morta, tanto somigliante che il Padre s’innamora della figlia e la vorrebbe in moglie. Incesto!
Si potrebbe definire lo scioglimento del complesso di Edipo.
Si confessa con Mathilda, ma solo per poi immediatamente suicidarsi: gesto irreparabile che la figlia non riesce a impedire.
E quindi, l’amore si trasforma da forza unificante a fattore di distruzione e separazione.


Johann Heinrich Füssli: La solitudine all’alba.

[Fin qui, per restare in zona di analogie, la storia di Mathilda ricorda molto anche quella della favola di Pelle d’Asino.]

A questo punto inizia la seconda fase del breve romanzo: Mathilda fa credere al mondo d’essere morta, suicida (laudano), e si ritira in completa solitudine. In questi due anni conosce il Poeta, e prima di morire di tisi, gli scrive questa lettera confessione.

Ora, anche se io non sono un teorico dell’autobiografia dietro ogni parola scritta, non sono un fan di chi cerca un fatto vero dietro ogni fatto narrato, è difficile non notare le analogie tra il destino di Mathilda e quella della sua ‘creatrice’ (tra virgolette, perché termine che mi fa subito pensare al dottor Frankenstein).


Johann Heinrich Füssli. Mary Wollstonecraft, la mamma di Mary Shelley, ebbe una relazione con Johann Heinrich Füssli, che però era già sposato: Wollstonecraft propose un ménage à trois, ma Füssli rifiutò. Qualche anno dopo incontrò il padre di Mary, William Godwin.

Mary Shelley perse sua madre Mary Wollstonecraft proprio nascendo: la donna si ammalò partorendo e morì di febbre dieci giorni dopo.
Il padre di Mary Shelley era una personalità dell’epoca (così come lo era la madre, antesignana del movimento femminista), intellettuale radicale rinomato. Non abbandonò la figlia: ma era comunque figura per la quale provare amore più che filiale.

Da questo evento viene da pensare che Mary Shelley abbia ricavato quella sua tendenza fisiologica alla depressione, quella sua malinconia costituzionale, che la spinsero a scrivere opere di struggente (talvolta un po’ troppo sopra le righe, a rischio di pacchianeria) romanticismo.


Johann Heinrich Füssli: Lady Macbeth afferra i pugnali (1812). Tate Gallery, Londra.

La Shelley si riteneva responsabile della morte di sua madre, e al contempo se ne sentiva abbandonata.
Altrettanto succede a Mathilda.

Per massima ironia della sorte, Mary Shelley pensò bene di far leggere il manoscritto a suo padre, William Godwin, che lo trovò disgustoso e detestabile, e per evitare che venisse pubblicato, sequestrò il manoscritto rifiutandosi di restituirlo alla figlia. Fu infatti pubblicato molto postumo, nel 1959 (oltre un secolo dopo la morte dell’autrice).


Caspar David Friedrich: Donna all’alba (1809). Folkwang Museum di Essen. È l’immagine sulla copertina dell’edizione che ho letto.

[Dalia Nourelden · Rating 4 out of 5]

تقييمى ٤.٥ . ليه مش ٥ ؟؟ معرفش بس بالنسبالى النجمة الخامسة دى لازم الرواية تخطفها مني وهنا رغم انها لمستنى وكانت زى ما كنت عايزاها بائسة و تعبر عن حاجة جوايا بس مخطفتش النجمة الخامسة معرفش ليه بالظبط .
وقبل اى كلام عن الرواية اللى بيكره البؤس هيكره الرواية وهيكره الاقتباسات والصور وهيكره الرفيو وهيكرهني معاهم 😂

" لماذا علي أن أعيش ؟ أن أجتر الساعات بعد الساعات؟ أن أرى الأشجار تتمايل بفروعها بلا توقف ؟ أن أشعر بالهواء ؟ وأن أعاني في كل ما أشعر به أشد الآلام ؟ جسدي قوي لكن روحي تغرق تحت وطأة الكمد الحي . الموت هو الهدف الذي أصبو إليه، لكن ، واحسرتاه ! لا أرى حتى نهاية الطريق . هل لك أن تخبرني، صديقي العطوف ، عن كيفية الموت بهدوء وبراءة وحينها سأباركك . كل ما أصبو إليه، أنا المخلوق البائس ، هو الموت بلا ألم ""



كل واحد بيبقى عنده اسباب بتختلف عن التانى ، اسباب توصله لمرحلة الانهيار او حافة الانهيار ، اسباب بتخليه كاره للحياة ورغبته فى العزلة والموت بتزيد . بس ايا كانت الأسباب ، فى النهاية بنتشابه غالبا فى الإحساس اللى بنعاني منه . وهنا حسيت بجزء من روحي مع ماتيلدا فى مشاعرها ، فى رغبتها فى العزلة ، في كرهها للحياة ورغبتها فى العزلة والموت . فى اجزاء كانت بتقول كلام شبه اللى انا بقوله وبحسه ، فى كلمات كانت بتخترقني لدرجة خوفتنى من كتر ماهي قريبة منى .حتى كلامها مع صديقها انا قلت كلام شبه ده واتقالى كلام شبه الكلام ده بالظبط حتى مشاعرى كانت فى أوقات نفس مشاعرها.

" كثيرا في وسط الهدوء الظاهر ما كان يزورني اليأس والسوداوية، كآبة لا يمكن لشئ تبديدها أو التغلب عليها ، كراهية الحياة ، لامبالاة تجاه الجمال ، كل هذا يحتويني في نوبات تكاد تقضي علي بقوتها . أبدا لم أتوقف في اللحظات الأكثر هدوءا عن الصلاة من أجل الموت "



فى ناس تقول ليه اقرأ حاجة بؤس كفاية البؤس اللى فى حياتنا ، كفاية ارهاقنا وتعبنا النفسي مش ناقصين حاجة تتعبنا زيادة . وانا متفهمة ده بس بالنسبالى بحس العكس بدور على الحاجة اللى تلمسنى مهما كانت درجة بؤسها . بحب الاقي حاجة تعبر عني ، بحب الاقي حد بيقول اللى جوايا ويعبر عنه لاني مبعرفش اعبر عنه . جايز ناس تعتبر ده حب تعذيب للنفس وجايز يكونوا صح بس ساعات بحس انه بحث عن المشاركة، عن حد يقولك انت مش لوحدك في حزنك لأ فى غيرك حاسين بنفس إحساسك، في ناس بتتعب لما بتلاقي ده ومش هنكر ساعات بتعب بس ساعات ببقى أحسن لانى بحس انى مش لوحدى اللى حسيت ده .
وده كان سبب اصلا انى اقرر انى اكتب الرفيو لانها جات فى لحظة و لمستنى بشكل مرعب " الناس من حولي لايرون سوى فتاة بائسة محطمة الروح تتحدث بصوت خفيض ورقيق ، ومن أسفل جفنيها المسدلين أحيانا ماتتسلل الدموع التي تكافح لاخفائها . فتاة تحب أن تكون وحيدة، تتحاشي نظرات الآخرين "



عشان كده اللى بيتعب من البؤس يبعد عن الرواية دى عشان غالبا مش هتعجبكم وهتكرهوها ، ولو بتدوروا برضه على حاجة صغيرة وسهلة فماتيلدا برضه مش هتناسبكم لانها اه صغيرة فى عدد صفحاتها بس مش سهلة فى أسلوبها بس تعبيراتها بجد رهيبة فعلا . وكلها سرد فغالبا هتاخد معاكم شوية وقت . فهى عايزة صبر وتركيز واستعداد لقراءة كتاب بائس لشخصيات كلها بائسة سواء شخصية ماتيلدا او ��ى شخصية اتقابلت معاها فى حياتها . حزينة من صفحاتها الأولى، مبكية حتى صفحاتها الأخيرة .

" لا أبكي ولا أتنهد ، لكني يجب أن استمع إلى صوت العقل داخلي ، وأجبر نفسي على الشعور بالحزن واليأس. ليس استسلاما ما أشعر به ، فأنا ميتة تجاه كل ندم "



فى البداية الرواية جذبتني جدا وفى وقت حسيت بملل شوية لان الاسلوب مش بسيط وانا لسه مرجعتش لكامل تركيزى الفترة دى بس بعد كده رجعت جذبتنى اكتر ماكانت جذباني فى البداية لانى حسيت اكتر بجزء مني جواها وحسيتها فعلا دخلت جوه دماغي .
" في الحقيقة أناواقعة في حب الموت ، ولا يمكن لأي فتاة عذراء أن تجد لذة في تفكرها في رداء عرسها أكثر مما أجد في تخيل أطرافي ملتفة في أكفانها ، أليس هذا هو فستان زفافي "



اما عن ايه بتتكلم الرواية فهى على لسان بطلتنا ماتيلدا بتحكى لنا من خلال كتابة رسالة لصديقها قصتها من البداية وأسباب بؤسها ، لتخبره فيها بما لم تستطيع ان تخبره به من قبل .


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تحكى له قصة والدها و علاقته وزواجه من والدتها وماحدث لهم بعد ذلك وتأثير ذلك عليها ، ثم تقص علينا اسباب بؤسها الشديد وعزلتها ' طردت من الجنة إلى الارض كما يمكن لصقر قوى أن ينقض على عصفور ضعيف أحمق ، بدوار في عيني وذهول في رأسي بسبب الظهور المفاجئ للحزن . أصبحت الأيام لا يميزها سوى شكواي ودموعي "

ونتشارك معها معاناتها ومشاعرها وبؤسها .




وتحكى لنا قصة لقائها بهذا الصديق وقصته واحاديثه معها










الصديق الذي تواصل معها بشكل لم يحدث معها من قبل لكنها عجزت عن ان تبوح له بأسباب حزنها وعزلتها لكن حديثها عن هذا الصديق وحديثه معها كان له أثر كبير بداخلي وهناك اوقات شعرت بها تتحدث على لساني ، هناك أجزاء سمعت بها أفكاري . أعجبتني ردود صديقها ومحاولاته لجذبها مع قاع الظلمات رغم انه هو أيضا مر بظروف أتعبته وارهقته نفسيا ، لكنه كان يحاول مواساتها وإنقاذها .





رواية مرهقة نفسيا ومرهقة فى قرائتها لكنها اعجبتنى وبشدة و سأضمها للكتب التى سأرغب في إعادة قرائتها مرة اخرى .

٢ / ٥ / ٢٠٢١

[m. · Rating 5 out of 5]

not to be sentimental on the jeff bezos app, but i can never dare to explain the magnitude of the feelings mary shelley and her works give me. and i say give because it really does feel like a blessing to have access to her mind, and her feelings, and her thoughts. i've seen so many people say that the most interesting part of shelley's work is her as a person, and sometimes i agree, but when i sit down and read her words i'm sure there is no difference between the two. she is one of the best there has ever been and there ever will be—few people exhaled art like she did.

[Petra X · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary Shelley is exceedingly famous as the author of Frankenstein, but this work isn't known at all and wasn't even published until 1959. With good reason.

The story is that Mathilda's father leaves England after the death of his wife and doesn't return until she is 16 whereupon he falls in love with her. He confesses it to her and then kills himself. No hot incestuous sex scenes here, this isn't a book by Virginia Andrews). Mathilda is consumed with unhappiness and making financial arrangements for a secure future, fakes her own suicide and taking the money, moves to a secluded cottage on the Yorkshire moors with only a servant for company.

Her situation, the loneliness and the depressing view of the future and possibly the bleak, treeless, windswept moors get to her and she decides to really kill herself. Matilda asks her only friend, a poet to make it a romantic suicide à deux and join her in drinking the poisoned beverages she has prepared.

Eloquently, not wanting to die himself, he persuades her to live. But she gets consumption and dies anyway, happy that it is a natural death and so doesn't spoil her chances of being reunited with her father in the happy hereafter. The father whose ardour for her was that of a lover, not a parent. And the daughter knows that and this desiring of with her father can only mean that she returns this unnatural affection and is looking forward to an eternity in her lover-father's arms.

Absolutely dire story, but the writing was ok.

Read March 2011.
Reviewed 2016.

[Jan-Maat]

Really, really short work, virtually a one idea story that Shelley allows to go on far too long. She is reaching here for shock and sensation and melodrama (in the absence of other words beginning in S), but no doubt I'm too callous or too old or something. It's an aristocratic- Gothic tale, so while in earlier works of Gothic shlocky sensation, illicit passions were worked out to their dark and dreadful conclusions in foreign countries like Italy, or the past, the scene of the action here is moved back closer to home to Britain. Interestingly they take place in aristocratic estates, so by extension the teeming city is no flesh pot of vice and depravity, it is a place of sociability while the aristocratic family is not to be taken as a role model as it's wealth enables fearsome passions, by implication the intimate bourgeois family is wholesome and proper, and novels are an important instrument of education and socialisation ( particularly in regard to the emotions) - the characters here only seem to read poetry and that does them no good at all. Interesting also and possibly one reason why the story was suppressed is that Shelley was writing against the social tide - the nineteenth century saw the belief in stranger danger become absolute - the family was meant to be the safe zone, not as Shelley says in this case, a place of potential intergenerational sexual abuse and tension.

All this, I guess particularly if you have read this brief novel as a letter, might well remind us of Lord Byron, particularly of his overly intimate relationship with his half-sister, something which points forward to The Last Man, the reworking of Shelley's own experience and personal contacts into fiction seems to have been a central element of her literary creativity.

The opening of the story I felt quite good, it is a bit like a 'choose your own adventure' book except without the choice element - we the readers are an important character in the book, we are the only friend - yes the only friend(you must read this in a melodramatic pose) and confidant of the narrator, the eponymous Matilda. She explains that she is dying and so confesses the dreadful tale of her life with its shocking impious passions, replete with references to Persephone (who you may recall was the niece of her rapist and then 'husband' Hades) and Diana. The wild youth of the narrator in The Last Man is trialled here, but instead with a female narrator, which is quite fun. In a sense nothing happens apart from deaths! DEATHS! Several deaths! this is all about the outrage of having improper emotions, the desire to do something improper is at least as bad if not worse than committing the act itself which I hasten to reassure you, does not happen Shelley's father suppressed this novel, I guess on the grounds that even at suggesting at certain tabloid sensationalism was too much, possibly not too much of itself, but certainly unwise in terms of the Mary Shelley 'brand'. Interesting as a mid point between Frankenstein and The Last Man the myth here is Orpheus, and in this version things work out as miserably as in the original but with isolation (not a surprising theme for Shelley to happen across considering) as an additional bleakness. Shelley's take on the myth of eternal renewal is wonderfully bleak, May is here the cruellest month, the vibrancy of the natural world is in cruel juxtaposition with the mind of the narrator. For her the merry, merry month of May is when everything goes wrong. Some fine Romantic tropes, idealisation, longing, loss, the adventurous traveller to the exotic East who makes genuine and meaningful contact with the locals (some ideas you see, never die, indeed barely even change shape).

Sadly the story is too feeble even for it's meagre length, but it does have a nice dream sequence and plenty of references to poets for those who like to pick such things apart.

[Jessica Yopp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read my full review here: http://virtualmargin.blogspot.com/2011/08/mathilda-34100.html

This may be one of the most Romantic books I've ever read. Romantic with a big R, not a little one. It's so packed full of feelings, melodramatic dialogues, and rainy moors, you'll be convinced Lord Byron is standing directly behind you.

In Mathilda, the title character narrates from her deathbed the tragic story of her life. Having lost her mother at birth, her father leaves her in the care of a cold aunt and disappears for 16 years. He returns, only to eventually confess a shocking secret that tears both of them apart forever.

Despite how the plot summary sounds, it's actually a pretty droll story. Not once did I really feel sad for the characters. Possibly because the entire time they were trying to tell me in excruciating detail exactly how sad THEY were.

I did a word count, and here is how often the following words were used in the story:

* Alas -- 24
* Agony -- 11
* Sorrow -- 28
* Misery -- 26
* Grief -- 48
* Bitter -- 30
* Tears -- 50
* Despair -- 52


And last but not least, the words death (59), die (64), or dead (23) were used for a combined total of 146 times! The book is only 144 pages long. Alas!

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just absoultely gorgeous. Everytime I read anything by Mary Shelley I just want to read everything she ever wrote, whether it was fiction or non-fiction. This was a very gothic tragic tale of a young girl doomed to death. The tale itself is interesting and tragic. The style of the writing is just beautiful. There are some of the most beautiful and moving passages about depression and suicide that I've ever read. Clearly Mary Shelley understood these things very well and while the plot of the story might seem a bit fanciful to a modern reader there are enough elements of truth that make it still ring true. One I'd very highly recommend particularly to people who've battled with serious depresion in the past.

[محمد خالد شريف · Rating 3 out of 5]

"يُعاني سُكان العالم من الآم كثيرة. في المُدن المُزدحمة، في السهول المحروثة، أو على جبال الصحاري، تُحرث بذور الألم في طبقات كثيفة، وإذا استطعنا انتزاع عُشبة واحدة فحسب من هذه الأعشاب البغيضة، أو أكثر، إذا نجحنا في حرث حبة قمح واحدة محلها، أو زرع زهرة جميلة واحدة، فليكن هذا دافعاً كافياً للرجوع عن الانتحار."

رواية "ماتيلدا" هي أول روايات "ماري شيلي" والتي لديها رواية شهيرة جداً وهي "فرانكشتاين" وللآسف ذلك جعلني أعتقد أنني سأقرأ رواية رُعب خفيفة، ولكني وجدت رواية درامية بديعة في وصف المشاعر.. لم أقرأ مثل هذه الأوصاف من قبل، وتحية واجبة للمُترجم الذي استطاع نقل كُل تلك المُفردات بسلاسة، وتلك الرواية جعلتني أفكر.. لماذا تُمثل الحياة لبعض البشر مُعاناة هائلة.. أحياناً ما يتم اتهام جيلنا الحالي أننا جيل مُعقد أكثر من اللازم، وأن التطور جعلنا مُعقدين في فكرنا.. حسناً هذه الرواية قد تمثل خط دفاع كامل بالنسبة لنا.. فالتعقيد في الأفكار والعمق يبدو أنه سمة من سمات بعض البشر فقط، لا يستطيعون أن يعيشوا حياة هادئة أو عادية، أفكارهم تلتف حول عنقهم كحبل يخنقهم ولكن لا يقتلهم فيرتاحوا ولا يجعلهم يستطيعون أن يأخذوا نفس حتى! لا تكف الحياة عن العبث معهم، وكُلما شعروا أنهم وجدوا الخلاص، فاجئتهم الحياة أننا ما زلنا في المستوى الأول، وأنها تُعد لك العديد من المُفاجئات.

"كُنت تصالحت مع العزلة واستغرقت فيها ولكن أحداً لم يملأ مكانها في وجداني."

تعاطفت كثيراً مع "ماتيلدا" تلك الفتاة الرقيقة التي لا ذنب لها في أي شيء، إلا أن الحياة تُحب أن تعبث معها.. ولكن تعاطفي الأكبر كان مع الكاتبة "ماري شيلي" فمثلما ذكرت مُقدمة الرواية، أن الرواية قد تُمثل سيرة ذاتية لها، تلك العذابات التي حاولت أن تنقلها في شكل سطور، ونجحت في ذلك، تلك الأوصاف والسرد المؤلم لا يُمكن أن يخرج إلا من روح مُعذبة فعلاً، إنسانة أهلكها تفكيرها، فحاولت أن تتخلص منه بالكتابة عنه.. فهل يا ترى استطاعت ذلك؟

[Laubythesea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Shelly, conocida por todo el mundo como autora de ‘Frankenstein’, un año después de su publicación, entre 1819-20, con 23 años, escribió ‘Mathilda’, que no sería publicada hasta más de un siglo después (1959) por el tema que aborda. No daré más detalles para no desvelar nada, pero si queréis entrar en blanco a la historia, os recomiendo no leer la sinopsis. Eso sí, creo firmemente que lo genial de esta historia es cómo está contada y cuándo fue escrita, y que puede disfrutarse igual aun sabiendo el centro de la trama.

La novela, absolutamente atrapante, está escrita en forma de carta, donde la propia Mathilda pone al corriente de que su vida llega al final y hace un repaso por lo que ha sido su existencia, hay algo que nunca ha contado y desvelarlo ayudará a entender por qué es cómo es (sus silencios, sus lágrimas, su tendencia a estar sola). Vamos, que huele todo a tragedia y esta una última confesión, a algo que no quiere llevarse a la otra vida.

Mathilda vive en un lugar aislado, rodeada de naturaleza, llevando una existencia contemplativa y solitaria. Las descripciones muy atmosféricas y bonitas, solo me daban ganas de irme allí con ella, a pesar de la sensación melancólica que tiñe todo. La muerte parece presentarse como una amiga para ella, que la espera sin miedo.

Mathilda creció en Escocia tutelada por su tía porque tras el fallecimiento de su madre, la vida pierde sentido para el padre y se va lejos. Pasa años entre bosques y libros, deseando el regreso de su padre y anhelando cariño. Lejos de estar enfadada con él por abandonarla, le espera con los brazos abiertos. El caso es que con 16 años, el padre regresa y Mathilda comienza una nueva vida. Pero… la autora no deja que el lector esté tranquilo porque, cada pocas páginas, recuerda de una forma u otra que “la felicidad acabó pronto para dejar paso a la desesperación”.

‘Mathilda’ encarna muchas de las características de la literatura del romanticismo, entre las que destacan la búsqueda de la comunión con la naturaleza y las pasiones y las emociones desatadas. En esta novela, principalmente la soledad, melancolía, insatisfacción, frustraciones, desengaños… La fuerza de las emociones está presente en casi cada página, donde a pesar de tener un estilo relativamente sencillo, no pierde belleza, simbolismos, ni agilidad en la trama. Para muestra de esa intensidad emocional, una frase que me encantó:

“Pocos eran los días de apacible melancolía y con frecuencia eran interrumpidos por arrebatos de pasión que me transportaban, como a un barco perdido en un mar de elementos desencadenados, en busca de un remando en el que resguardarme: pero era de mi puerto natal de donde soplaban los vientos que me arrastraban lejos, muy lejos, hasta que aparecía destrozada cuando, pasada la tempestad, el mar recobraba su calma aparente”.

En definitiva, ‘Mathilda’ me parece una novela de esas que es difícil que te deje indiferente, te guste o no, genera sentimientos, angustia y enfado. Una novela sobre un tema escabroso, con una protagonista que es víctima y considerada monstruo. Llena de ambigüedad buscada. Muy valiente por parte de Mary animarse a escribir algo así y más, “atacando” a través de la ficción a personas cercanas a ella.

Porque sí, Mathilda tiene toques de autobiográficos, aunque la trama sea una ficción. Las actitudes y valores que encarnan algunos personajes pueden relacionarse claramente con el padre de la autora y también con su marido, el poeta Percy Shelly.

Mary Shelley escribe ‘Mathilda’ en un momento muy complicado de su vida, después de perder, con pocos meses de diferencia, a sus dos hijos. Es en ese contexto de tormento, cuando surge esta novela. Otro detalle interesante es que la madre de Mary Shelly, Mary Wollstonecraft, también escritora y una señora bastante estupenda, murió por complicaciones del parto de Mary, y esta tuvo siempre un gran peso a sus espaldas de sentir que su madre había muerto por su culpa. Además, ‘Mathilda’ surge precisamente de una obra inacabada de su madre “The cave of Fancy”, de la que toma algunos elementos para desarrollar una historia completamente original.

Aunque la novela puede disfrutarse sin indagar más allá, a mi particularmente me llevó a querer saber más de la vida de su autora y ahora es uno de mis focos de obsesión.

[Pakinam Mahmoud · Rating 2 out of 5]

يا للكآبة المفرطة !
كتاب عبارة عن أحزان و اكتئاب و رغبة في الموت بس كدة...
الرواية بتتكلم عن ماتيلدا الفتاة التي تركها والدها بعد وفاة والدتها و لم يجتمع شملهم إلا بعد مرور ١٦ عاماً لتعيش معه فترة قصيرة من السعادة ثم تكتشف حالته النفسية السيئة و إنه لم ولن يتجاوز وفاة والدتها التي يراها في كل شئ حتي في ابنته نفسها لدرجة انه تقريباً كان بيحبها بس مش حب أب لابنته!

الرواية كلاسيكية وفيها وصف للمشاعر مكتوب حلو ولكننا في هذا الزمن عدينا بقي هذه النوعية من الكتب و حتي مش حقدر أطلق عليها رواية لأنها مفيهاش تقريباً اي عنصر من عناصر الرواية سواء حبكة أو أحداث أو حتي رسم لأي شخصيات..
Not my cup of tea!

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting little novella (or short story? I don't know), about a woman called Matilda whose life is turned upside down as a result of her father's inappropriate obsession with her. As expected, the writing is beautiful - Mary Shelley truly has a way with words! It took me a while to get into the flow of this, being out of practice with classics, but I did love how melodramatic the character's conversations became! However, I felt it dragged a little in the second half, and it was utterly depressing overall. A sad story, with an unexpected element that I didn't see coming, so I would recommend it if it sounds like your cup of tea. Not one I would read again though.

[♥Milica♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what to say about this one, other than I loved the writing, and I'm hoping it isn't as autobiographical as people are saying, because...yeah.

[Dhanaraj Rajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Language: Mary Shelley writes in a beautiful language. For the language of this novella, I would give full 5 Stars.

Story: It is a simple plot spread over a few pages. In fact it would have made a great short story if she had edited some of the passages. It is about the unnatural passion of a father for his daughter and how it destroys both of them. Believe me, I have not given up anything other than what is in the blurb.

Themes: Unnatural Passion, Grief, Guilt and Despair. Also a pinch of Hope is thrown around.

Remark: It is her dealing with these emotions - passions, grief, guilt, despair and hope - that struck me hard. At times, it read like a spiritual discourse. May be, it is due to my religious outlook at everything. But be not discouraged. It does not bore you being too preachy. It flows with the plot and the language is mellifluous.

Last Observation: It did not create an impact in me the way Frankenstein did. But if Mary Shelley could write so beautifully, I would read her all books for the simple pleasure of reading and cherishing something beautifully written.

[Annelies · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book written in 19th century romantic style. Very embellished language. It's a story about love and despair; about longing for passion ( which is surpressed) and longing for death. Although it's beautifully written; it couldn't really grip me.

[gloria .☆ﾟ. · Rating 5 out of 5]

mary shelley, you remarkable woman

Farewell, Woodville, the turf will soon be green on my grave; and the violets will bloom on it. There is my hope and my expectation; your's are in this world; may they be fulfilled.

[Jordan Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Shelley. First a story about a lonely, half-dead monster, and now a tale of incestuous romance.

I was very intrigued about the novella "Mathilda." I had heard of before, as "that other Shelley book," but somehow the knowledge of what it was about managed to never reach me until a few days ago.

For those who also do not know the story, this is about a girl who is indeed named Mathilda. Her mother tragically died in childbirth, inspiring her passionate father to flee in grief to the ends of the earth, leaving his infant daughter with a prickly aunt. This aunt raises Mathilda in Scotland, and while she is never cruel to the girl, she refuses to show her the slightest affection, which Mathilda bears with much suffering. She lives in hope that one day, her father will return to reclaim her. Miraculously, one day a letter appears, saying that he intends to do just that.
Mathilda meets her father for the first time, and the two instantly form a connection. They become each others dearest friends, and Mathilda feels loved for the first time in her life.
However, after going to live with her father in England, his attitude toward her shifts to one of coldness, and he seems repulsed by her very presence, no matter what Mathilda does. At last, alone in the woods one day, Mathilda confronts him about it tearfully. Her father confesses that he loves her - and not in the way that a father should.
Horrified, Mathilda retreats back to the house. As she is planning on leaving, she receives word that her father has left mysteriously. Gathering from the letter he left her that he is in a dark state of mind, she rushes to the place she believes him to have gone, hoping that it is not too late.

This was a melodramatic little story, which came as no surprise to me. I did not have any particular love for it, except for some scenes that stood out in my mind. The scene in the forest was striking, of course. I knew what was coming and was just waiting for Mathilda to realize it.
The scene where Mathilda is racing to find her father was my favorite scene of the book. There was already such breathless urgency to it, and then of course, a thunderstorm had to begin.

What was left of the book following this scene, I wasn't so sure about. It was sad, yes, but I felt that the woeful atmosphere was being pushed at me just a bit too much. I love a good depressing book, but it has to actually BE depressing. If the author is simply trying to convince us to be depressed and it isn't working, that isn't a good sign.

Our heroine Mathilda was a girl that you cannot help but feel pity for. She is quite the good girl, and all her wishes and hopes are honest and simplistic, making the reader think "Gosh, how hard would it be to just give the poor girl that little thing?" I liked her, because though she is an unfortunate little thing, she also possesses a strength underneath, shown in her bravery and her compassion concerning the climax with her father. What a sad life she led. She grew up longing for affection that her aunt stonily refused her, and then finds this relationship with her beloved father. However, she was getting her hopes up too soon, because then her father turns away from her more pointedly than her Aunt ever did. All her life, Mathilda longs above all else to be loved. She finds no love with her aunt, but her father does come to love her - in a backwards sort of way.

Mathilda's father is described from the beginning as "passionate," and as having strong, romantic emotions. At first I thought in disapproval that this seemed an excuse, or a way of watering things down. However, I was never quite able to hate him. He has evidentially never gotten over the death of his wife. He loved her very much, and now he has before him a beautiful young girl who looks, speaks, walks, and acts like his lover, like a ghost. We see plenty of Mathilda's sad story, but her father's was equally sorrowful. Also, he distances himself from Mathilda in an effort to protect her. When at last he confesses, he feels so guilty that he nearly dies. To me, he seemed to be a good man who tragically fell into wicked desires.

As shocking as this book was for its time (though it was not actually published until much later), it does not, as seems to be heavily hinted in the reviews I've found, contain any incestuous sex. Mathilda's father proclaims desire for her, but that is as far as it ever goes. I wanted to say that because some reviews state outright that the two have sex. And this simply isn't correct.

An interesting bit of information about the book was that after writing it, Shelley felt it to be darkly prophetic. Upon the death of her husband, she raced in a carriage toward the sea-side, hoping she would find him alive, just like in that scene from her own book.

An intriguing story.

[Thérèse · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In truth I am in love with death; no maiden ever took more pleasure in the contemplation of her bridal attire than I in fancying my limbs already enwrapped in their shroud: is it not my marriage dress? Alone it will unite me to my father when in an eternal mental union we shall never part."

mary shelley you have done it again

[Noe herbookss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desde que leí Frankenstein, obra que me sorprendió y enamoró, quise conocer más a Mary Shelley. Escribió Mathilda poco después de su primera famosa novela, en 1820, pero no fue hasta 1959 que se publicó (!) debido, entre otras cosas, a los temas que trata, que eran considerados detestables y casi prohibidos.

En su lecho de muerte Mathilda escribe una carta para confesarse, y narra episodios de su vida que nadie hasta ahora conocía. Lleva años sola en una pequeña casa en mitad de un páramo desolado y, aunque siempre le ha horrorizado contar su historia, ahora, a punto de morir, un impulso la empuja a revelar lo que durante mucho tiempo ha mantenido escondido.

Al más puro estilo del clásico romanticismo inglés y de una forma íntima y reflexiva repasa su trágica vida desde la infancia hasta el presente y aborda cuestiones como el incesto, el suicidio y la romantización de la muerte. Mathilda se expresa de forma intensa y vehemente y transmite a la perfección su angustia y desesperación, pero también su serenidad. Necesita escribirlo, centrar sus ideas, recordarlo todo e implorar la compasión y comprensión de al menos un amigo. Como si esa carta fuese una forma de liberación y redención.

Dicen que esa una obra con muchos elementos autobiográficos y, aunque es bastante más corta y sencilla que Frankenstein, me parece una novela igual de valiosa que refleja perfectamente partes de la personalidad de Mary y del pensamiento de la época.
Muy recomendable, a mí me ha gustado mucho.

[Jassmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Yes, speak and, we shall be happy; there will no longer be doubt, no dreadful uncertainty; trust me, my affection will soothe your sorrow; speak that word and all danger will be past, and we shall love each other as before, and for ever."

(I'm not sure this is a story that can be spoiled, but there are some mild spoilers in the review? Idk, like the blurb says everything, but if you want pure experience don't read this...)
I wanted to read another Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley for the longest time and I can't believe it took me this long! It really is quite unbelievable... If you don't know yet, I feel an obligation to disclose at the beginning of this review that I'm obsessed with MWS, want to read everything from her, want to know everything about her, so really this review could never be objective and should be read as such. (This work also seems widely disliked, so I consciously decided to play the part of defense even though I have few of my own reservations.)

MWS finished this work when she was only 23 years old and it's her third work. By this point, she went through more than most of us do in twice so many years though one of the biggest blows, the death of her husband, is still two years in the future. (Though by this point, their relationship was such a mess that I'm not sure we can count it as a positive point.) MWS's works often mirror her real life in the strangest ways and so I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that she uses her writing as a way to process some of her real life feelings and experiences. That doesn't make her work autobiographical, I certainly don't want to imply that her relationship with her father was incestuous, but it IS true that it was very troubled and complicated, full of jagged feelings. MWS's work is full of problematic father figures (you know, that kind of is one of the points of Frankenstein...) and dead perfect mothers - and looking at her life, who would be surprised by this?
Though... it is certainly strange and interesting, that Mary who desperately wanted to be loved by her father, to be the first in his eyes, wrote a story about and excessive fatherly love... or maybe it isn't strange at all...
But maybe, I should speak about the book? Right?

I jumped into the boat, and well accustomed to such feats, I pushed it from the shore, and exerted all my strength to row swiftly across. As I came, dressed in white, covered only by my tartan rachan, my hair streaming on my shoulders, and shooting across with greater speed than it could be supposed I could give to my boat, my father often told me that I looked more like a spirit than a human maid. I approached the shore, my father held the boat, I leapt lightly out, and in a moment was in his arms.

The beginning of the book is set in Scotland which once more, really pushes the autobiographical reading before our eyes. Because as Mathilda is abandoned by her father with her aunt in Scotland, Mary (in her teens) was sent by her father & family to Scotland as well. And even though she came to love it and after her return to England kept walking around in tartan, which was highly unfashionable at the time, at least in the beginning, she surely thought of it as sort of exile.
Knowing this, looking at the quote I chose above... it really seems to me, like writing a wish fulfillment of a sort while also persuading oneself that it's better the way it is.
I'm sorry, I know the tartan story doesn't really have much to do with it, but it's simply so funny... I'm going to put this in spoiler, so... read only if you are interested...
We know about MWS's tartan frock only because Thomas Jefferson Hogg's retelling of one of the early MWS and PBS reunions and the detail is simply so ridiculous he couldn't come up with it! Fiona Sampson writes (beginning of Chapter 3 from In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein if you are interested):

In nineteenth century, as in the twenty-first, London cares about fashion: Londoners have a quick and sophisticated eye for nuances of dress. And tartan is no nuance; in 1814 it's not even a cliché. The tartan industry will not take off for another eight years, until the state visit of George IV to Scotland.
Instead, the fabric is still rawly picturesque, and carries with it a faint association of rebellion. It's less than thirty years since the law forbidding the conquered Scots from wearing it was repealed. The daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, and as someone whose own sister was born in the middle of the French Revolution, Mary is unlikely to have much hesitation in choosing which side in recent Scottish history to romanticise....

The passage continues to speculate that it might have also been a rebellious move against her stepmother who MWS hated which is the funniest way of teen rebellion I ever heard about. But.... let's get back on track...
What I'm trying to say in a very roundabout way is that I found the way in which MWS mashes together and recycles and reuses the same motives in different ways highly fascinating. Those would be: abandonment, orphans, bad fathers, glorious dead mothers & motherhood in general, Scotland, explorations of love, women's relation to the creation of narrative... and this is one of the pieces of the mosaic, so of course I find the book intriguing.
In the second point, I want to mention Charlotte Gordon's interpretation of Mathilda, because I love it, even when I'm not entirely certain if it's partially not just wish fulfillment on her part. Gordon reads the body of MWS's work in conversation with her mother's Mary Wollstonecraft's work and therefore reads most of her novels as feminist novels. Which... hard yes. Really, this reading has a lot of merit and I think she really captures the spirit of lots of passages. From that POV the interesting thing about Mathilda is that it's told from woman's point of view and only her POV, she remains unchallenged and her take on the story is the "true" one. Which is a great change from Frankenstein where only men get to speak (though Gordon has such an interesting take on that one too!). One of her main points is this:

As Wollstonecraft had argued in The Rights of Woman, women had no legal or political recourse when victimized by men. Mary Shelley dramatizes her mother’s point by demonstrating the havoc that Mathilda’s father wreaks in his daughter’s life. Unchecked male power is not only unjust, she suggests, it is dangerous for all involved.

And:

...without strong mothers and wives, the world is a dangerous place for daughters...

With which I wholeheartedly agree. She also tries to argue for Mathilda's moral superiority over her father and while this is partially true, I would still argue that... just read this will you:

In truth I am in love with death; no maiden ever took more pleasure in the contemplation of her bridal attire than I in fancying my limbs already enwrapped in their shroud: is it not my marriage dress? Alone it will unite me to my father when in an eternal mental union we shall never part.

The book really made me question what exactly is the transgressive part here. The view of sexuality in general changed a great deal throughout history and it is just leaving me... wondering and questioning. (I am really incapable of voicing this thought coherently it seems...)

Not the wild, raving and most miserable Matilda but a youthful Hermitess dedicated to seclusion and whose bosom she must strive to keep free from all tumult and unholy despair - The fanciful nunlike dress that I had adopted; the knowledge that my very existence was a secret known only to myself...

If someone made it this far, kudos to you! I can't seem to get to the point today... So, trying to sum my feelings up:
This is a Romantic book and therefore ridiculous in places (see the quote above) which... honestly, I'm kind of eating up, I like this over-the-top shit. And there is also part of me that is convinced that MWS writes it so over-over-the-top on purpose (but I might be wrong of course). But you know, the point is - the book is funny and also (if you didn't gauge it from my chaotic essay) interesting. I'm just fascinated... Overall, objectively it's probably not so good - it's quite slow for how long it is, overly dramatic and very extreme is some of its sentiments. But... still interesting!
I'm really glad I read this, I guess I should read History of a Six Weeks' Tour Through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland: With Letters Descriptive of a Sail Round the Lake of Geneva, and of the Glaciers of Chamouni next, because I'm clearly (though unconsciously) doing a (mostly) chronological read of MWS works...

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

"En realidad estoy enamorada de la muerte. Ninguna novia contempló con más gozo su atuendo de boda que yo al imaginar mi cuerpo envuelto en el sudario."

Una obra que transmite el tormento, el dolor, la desolación y mucho más.

Lo había leído en mi adolescencia y a pesar de que ya conocía la historia, me impactó igual o más que la primera vez, lo sentí mucho más profundo y sobre todo melancólico.

El último tercio tiene ciertos acontecimientos que no me convencen y por ello que no se me hace una historia tan redonda, aún así es tremenda en muchos aspectos.

[Murat Dural · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Shelly'nin cümle kuruşunu, onun naif, yavaş yavaş gerilimi yükselten başarılı psikolojik kurgusunu övebileceğim ama daha çok kendini denemek için, belki de hayatından örneklendirdiği bir eser olarak sayacağım bir okuma oldu. Nefis cümleler ancak sonuç, kitabın vardığı yer kuşkulu, silik kalıyor. Buna rağmen dört yıldız veriyorum çünkü Mary Shelly muhakkak okunmalı. Ne demek istediğimi bu seçkin dili okuduğunuzda kavrayacaksınız. Bu arada Frankenstein'ı okumadığımı belirtmeliyim. "Mathilda" böyleyse Frankenstein müthiş olmalı. Son olarak İthaki Yayınları'nın "Karanlık" serisini bir kez daha işaret etmek, övmek istiyorum. Alican Saygı Ortanca, Ömer Ezer, Emre Aygün, Hamdi Akçay harika işler ortaya koyuyorlar.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prose is Gothic in perfect pitch and the drama of the story is even more so if that is possible. I’m glad it was short, because I was more interested in Mary Shelley than the book.

The protagonist’s life parallels MG Shelley’s: a mother dying in (her) childbirth; a cold, distant well educated father whose love turns to stone; a formative stay in Scotland; and the emergence of a poet with the exuberance of youth.

Shelley’s portrait of Mathilda’s father is presumably Shelley’s portrait of her own. Mathilda’s father mourns the death of her mother and leaves her alone in her grief. Shelley’s real life father is lost to her in his second marriage. In her teen years, Mathilda’s father returns and at first gives Mathilda the love she craves; once she attracts a young man (presumably a sign that she came of age) he turned cold and then showed his love to be carnal as well as filial. Shelley’s father is a teacher and mentor, but could turn very cold.

This book has major implications for understanding William Godwin (MG Shelley’s father), Mary Wollstonecraft (MG Shelley’s mother) and more importantly, Mary Godwin Shelley, herself. For instance, did Mary run off with Percy Shelley and take her step-sister Jane to protect the two of them? Did Jane's mother not insist on her daughter's return to England upon learning something from the girls? Did Godwin not pursue Mary (she did not marry Shelley upon flight) due to guilt? What of Wollstonecraft's other daughter, Fanny, who killed herself after Mary and Jane left the Godwin house?

After Shelley wrote this novel, she sent it to William Godwin for publication (he was a writer, philosopher and publisher). How did he react? How did this inform their continuing relationship? He continued to hector her for money, how does this fit in? He never published the book; but he obviously didn’t destroy it. I’d like know what he did with the manuscript and where it had been until it was finally published in the 1950’s.

[Sara Jesus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depois de ter lido "Frankenstein" tinha curiosidade em ler outras obras de Mary Shelley. No seu clássico de terror a sua escrita parece ser mais científica. Mas nesta novela demonstra ser uma poetisa. As descrições que faz de Inglaterra são maravilhosas. E me encanta muito o modo como transmite as emoções contraditórias de Mathilda.

Não é uma leitura fácil, pode se tornar um pouco desagradável. A relação entre pai e filha é um pouco estranha. Mas entende-se que existe uma grande cumplicidade entre eles. O que de facto me surpreendeu foi Shelley abordar a morte de um modo tão simples mas ao mesmo tempo emotiva. É verdadeiramente magnífica esta novela!

[Nada Zaid · Rating 3 out of 5]

❞ في الحقيقة أنا واقعة في حب الموت ولا يمكن لأي فتاة عذراء أن تجد لذة في تفكرها في رداء عرسها أكثر مما أجد في تخيل أطرافي ملتفة في أكفانها، أليس هذا هو فستان زفافي؟ وحده سيوحدني بأبي في اتحاد عقلي أبدي لن نفترق بعده أبدًا.❝

هذه الرواية سوداوية بكل ما تحمله الكلمة من معنى، وكأن بؤس الدنيا اجتمع فيها.

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وداعًا، وودفيل قريبًا ستصبح الأرض خضراء على قبري، وزهور البنفسج ستزهر عليه هناك تقبع آمالي، وهنا في هذا العالم، تكمن آمالك علها تصبح حقيقة.


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📖 كتاب 91
7/ 7/ 2025

[Bloodorange · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novella about grief, written by a person who knew all about it. It reads like a fantasy on ideal mourning, in a situation when one would be allowed to grieve forever, with no interference.

[Jo Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

relectura: leer a mary es como un besito en una llaga. escuece y al mismo tiempo se siente como una anhelada caricia. como logra penetrar en las raices del alma, de una intimidad universal, en la que parece que habitamos perpetuamente a lo largo de siglos. como traslada su soledad, su sufrir, su conexión con la naturaleza, sus deseos, y parece que se haya metido en tu propia piel esta joven chica que vivió hace 200 años. todos los atributo del romanticismo y de la tragedia más melodramática y sin embargo, desde esta expresión vehemente venos una sensibilidad, una belleza evocadora irresistible. para mi mary shelley es una verdadera maga. a la tipica pregunta de "a que persona te gustaria resucitar para tomar un cafe?" siempre respondo Mary Shelley.



1a lectura:

"Frankenstein" es uno de los libros más especiales, complejos e impresionantes que he leído, de hecho se encuentra en mi famosa lista de los mejores e irrepetibles libros que he leído. He de admitir que mientras lo leía me estaba gustando y lo estaba disfrutando pero no lo estaba considerando un favorito en absoluto y de hecho pensaba darle 4 estrellas. Pero fue al terminarlo, cuando me quedó a lo largo de los días el poso y el vacío al darme cuenta de lo hondo que me había llegado. Así me di cuenta de que Mary Shelley había ido más allá. Cuando terminé "Frankenstein" y estuve unos cuántos días en los que no podía pensar en nada que no fuera Mary Shlley (además hay que sumar el hecho de que vi la peli de Elle Fanning y me fascinó) empezó una obsesión muy fuerte y me hice con todos los libros habidos y por haber sobre la autora, sobre el libro, etc: me leí una biografía, me compré otra que aún no he leído, me compré un libro sobre el impacto que tuvieron en el cine y la cultura general los monstruos de Villa Diodatti (donde a Mary se le ocurrió Frankenstein), me compré la edición en inglés de "Frankenstein", le peli en físico, y (entre otras cosas) el libro que por fin hoy reseño: "Matilda".

No quiero desvelar nada de la historia porque al ser tan corto es mejor que lo cojas sin saber qué vas a encontrarte, pero os voy a adelantar que es una historia muy TURBIA y oscura, que presenta un argumento realmente escalofriante (y no porque sea de terror ni nada parecido), y que sigue la desdichada vida de la joven Matilda.

Lo que más me ha gustado de esta novelle ha sido una de las cosas que también me gustaron más en "Frankenstein": que la figura de la autora traspasa el papel; que mientras lees estos libros puedes entrever a un ser humano expresando de forma alegórica, lírica o sutil sus sentimientos, su desesperación, y pone en los personajes y las reflexiones muy poca distancia con ella misma. Podemos ver como en ambas novelas se plasma el sentimientos de la soledad, de la depresión, de la frustración que genera vivir en un mundo que solo causa sufrimiento sin uno haber pedido nacer, de la corrupción y, si conoces la vida de la autora y has leído algunas de sus cartas o diarios, puedes ver perfectamente que los tiros van por el mismo sitio.
Pero claro, hacer un libro con tintes autobiográficos lo puede hacer cualquiera, lo que pasa es que Mary lo hace de una forma muy especial, que conecta mucho conmigo por lo bien que plasma esos sentimientos, por como resultan tan humanos y como utiliza ciertos recursos para que queden reflejados a la perfección. La historia de la vida de Mary es muy tempestuosa y claramente nada común, pero cómo sabe llenar sus libros de unos sentimientos tan universales extrayéndolos de su propia experiencia vital es lo que hace sus libros clásicos de la literatura.

Quiero advertiros de que Mary Shelley junto a Percy Shelley o Lord Byron y toda esta generación de poetas y novelistas son "los románticos" por excelencia, cosa que significa: historias muy oscuras, muy intensas, muy dramáticas, en las que la naturaleza y las descripciones tienen mucho peso, en las que todo es muy egocéntrico y exagerado... y "Matilda" no se sale para nada de estas características. Es un libro muy dramático, muy oscuro, con grandes descripciones y muy deprimente.

Como he dicho el libro es muy autobiográfico, y ya no solo por como la protagonista es una herramienta de Mary para poner en el papel su desesperación, sino que tiene muchos otros elementos de su vida: sin duda el poeta que aparece, ese joven atractivo que la protagonista idealiza tanto es la imagen que Mary tenía tan idealizada del mismo Percy Shelley y te permite entender esa devoción y amor incondicional que sentía por él, aunque sabemos que no era tan bueno como ella lo quería ver. Otro paralelismo con su vida real es el hecho de que Matilda es huérfana de madre, y que igual que la madre de la propia Mary murió días después del parto.

En este libro os vais a encontrar una historia de soledad, de una chica con depresión, dependencia emocional, traumas, con pensamientos suicidas y muchas cosas de este estilo, así que no estáis en ese mood yo lo dejaría para otro momento.

A mí personalmente me ha gustado muchísimo: me ha encantado como estaba escrito, creo que hay una gran evolución en la narración de la autora, me ha encantado la importancia de la naturaleza, todos los sentimientos que pone por escrito y en general esa aura tan oscura que tiene. Es un libro muy invernal, así que para leer en enero o febrero os lo recomiendo mucho (no en diciembre porque para nada tiene vibes navideñas).

[Lilly Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Matilda" is a book by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley that examines the life of Matilda, a woman separated from society due to her strange upbringing. Matilda's mother dies directly after childbirth, leaving her father destroyed. He hands on the parental responsibility to Matilda's aunt and leaves. Sixteen years later, the father returns exclusively to confess his eternal incestuous love for her daughter and then commits suicide by drowning.

After the demise of her aunt and father, Matilda drops into a cycle of loneliness, unhappiness, and suicidal tendencies. Drowning in a severe depression, she simulates her death and completely removes herself from society, choosing to live in utter sequestration with just her one maid as a business. Tormented with the same fate as her father, she plans to commit suicide. Matilda enrols the help of her close friend, a poet, and asks him to make her demise as romantic as likely by drinking poison together.

Involuntary to kill himself, the poet tries to detract Matilda from killing herself to no avail. He attempts to help her find meaning in life, but she dies after consumption. There is a longing that Matilda reunited with her father in the hereafter and returned his incestuous passion.

"Matilda" is a novella packed with melodrama and controversial issues buried for a century because of its unfettered probe of incestuous affection and suicidal endeavour. After Matilda's father acknowledges his sexual emotions to her, it is implied that Matilda began to grow those same feelings for his father too. His premature death thoroughly devastates her as she feels like everyone who adored her has left her. All she can do is find harmony in dying, where she wishes to reunite with her father and lover.

Okay, this short novella is literary gold. I enjoyed every second of it, and I would highly recommend it; however, I do think you should check out the trigger warnings before grabbing it since there are some complex topics to deal with. If you are really into Gothic and Victorian literature, this will be one of your favourites. It filled my heart with warmth.

TW: Incest, Suicide, Death of Parent

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read August 2016
Update: giving it two stars.
I loved Frankenstein and part of me feels like I should have liked this as well, but honestly, I didn't.. The writing was alright and the story could have been too, but I was just so bored and the littlest things got me distracted whilest reading. (Also, I might have to admit to alredy having forgotten most of what this was about.. Should probably give it a reread someday.)

not sure how i feel about it yet..

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was Mary Shelley’s second work after Frankenstein, and it’s really interesting to see how similar it is in thematic preoccupations and how it draws on her own life: absent fathers, dead mothers, nature as parent, books as parent, very close father-daughter relationships, human society as false and corrupting, human love and kindness as essential, the city as oppressive compared to the freedom of the countryside, the pleasures and pains of solitude. (that last one in particular; Shelley writes so much and so well about loneliness, in a way that makes you wonder about her.) It’s a really, really Romantic novella, in the sense that you can map out so many of the beliefs and concerns of the movement in it.

But all the Gothic trappings (incest, storms, fainting, consumption, etc) are neither here nor there in the end; instead it’s a study of grief and depression, which becomes all the more heartbreaking when you realise she wrote it while she was in mourning for two of her children. It reminded me a lot of Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk, in the sense of being about a woman who’s lost her father and thinks that the wildness and sublimity of nature will provide solace, but it’s human sympathy that brings her back to herself. Mathilda is a beautifully, beautifully written book, which deserves so much more appreciation than it currently gets, and makes me want to seek out everything else Mary Shelley ever wrote.