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La transformación
Este libro incluye tres relatos de Mary Shelley escritos entre 1831 y 1833, más de una década después de haber publicado Frankenstein. En ellos es posible observar una escritura más madura, pero también un desarrollo más profundo de las oscuridades que recorren su escritura. «La transformación», que da título a este volumen, indaga sobre los peligros de recurrir a las potencias diabólicas para compensar las consecuencias de una vida miserable. «El mortal inmortal» explora una inmortalidad trágica, en la que el eterno protagonista se vuelve un testigo involuntario de la decadencia humana. Por último, «El sueño» plantea un encuentro imposible entre dos amantes cuyos linajes se han masacrado mutuamente, y que cargan con la culpa y la devastación inherentes al catolicismo y las Cruzadas.
91 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2025
About the author
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
3,517 books9,468 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 20, 2026
La transformación reúne tres relatos poco conocidos de una autora fundamental en la literatura universal por su exploración en lo oscuro mezclando lo inexplicable con el romanticismo y lo evolutivo.
February 15, 2026
Libro que reúne 3 cuentos cortitos de la autora de Frankenstein en una edición muy linda y cuidada. Los textos abordan las temáticas que ocuparon a Shelley a lo largo de toda su obra: el deseo humano de trascender su condición y los peligros asociados a este anhelo, el peso de las acciones (y pecados) de los ancestros sobre sus descendientes, el poder de las pasiones y la necesidad de templarlas con el uso de la razón y la justicia, entre muchas más. Son cuentos clásicos góticos con elementos sobrenaturales acotados, bien atmosféricos y que reflexionan sobre la condición humana.
June 9, 2026
Tres relatos cortos, pero cargados de miedo, desesperanza, dolor y amor. Qué virtuosa y talentosa fue Shelley, que lograba crear mundos en tan pocas páginas.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews