What do you think?
Rate this book
On Ghosts
On Ghosts is an essay written by Mary Shelley, first published in London Magazine (March 1824).
10 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1824
2 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2,343 books8,558 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 6, 2021
Are there any reasons to believe in ghosts? Mary Shelley comes up with a wonderfully crafted essay on the age of magic followed by our modern age of reason. She gives some interesting examples why ghosts are part of our modern world. At the end of her writing she gives a far too exaggerated example pro ghosts. Does she convince us? Well, the text is a bit dated and I don't think the ghost she's conjuring up here are around any more. But a recommended and interesting classic read.
April 29, 2020
i wanna read mary shelley's grocery shopping list
December 10, 2023
so which of yall didn't tell me that Mary Shelley had an essay titled 'On Ghosts'?
April 7, 2017
Mary Shelley makes strong points in this clever essay. I must say that I enjoyed the stories she recounts of other's ghost stories as well as The King of Cats story. I think that while people say that they don't believe in ghosts or spirits or other supernatural entities, the same people hesitate at entering an abandoned cemetery at midnight.
October 28, 2024
3,5 ⭐️
In On Ghosts, Mary Shelley delves into the supernatural with a philosophical edge, exploring humanity’s fascination with spirits and the unknown. Through concise yet thought-provoking prose, she raises questions about belief, fear, and the nature of reality, leaving us to ponder what lies beyond the mortal world.
🇧🇷
Em On Ghosts, Mary Shelley explora o sobrenatural com um toque filosófico, examinando a fascinação humana por espíritos e o desconhecido. Com uma prosa concisa e instigante, ela levanta questões sobre crença, medo e a natureza da realidade, convidando nós leitores a refletir sobre o que pode existir além do mundo mortal.
In On Ghosts, Mary Shelley delves into the supernatural with a philosophical edge, exploring humanity’s fascination with spirits and the unknown. Through concise yet thought-provoking prose, she raises questions about belief, fear, and the nature of reality, leaving us to ponder what lies beyond the mortal world.
🇧🇷
Em On Ghosts, Mary Shelley explora o sobrenatural com um toque filosófico, examinando a fascinação humana por espíritos e o desconhecido. Com uma prosa concisa e instigante, ela levanta questões sobre crença, medo e a natureza da realidade, convidando nós leitores a refletir sobre o que pode existir além do mundo mortal.
July 11, 2020
This was a very interesting read.
I don't agree with the logic (we'll be getting to that), but in terms of rhetoric, it is written beautifully. Her sentences seem to flow into each other, making her paragraphs the truly magnificent, to the detriment of the sentences if isolated. Luckily, her sentences are often the size of paragraphs anyway, so the issue is quite often avoided.
One of the best parts of this essay were the stories. Shelley walking into her dead friends home, the tale of the Englishman, and the tale of the Italian, were all good. I particularly like the first and third because, in order, the first shows Shelley attempting to denote what amounts to her persuasive argument, and the Italian story seems just weird enough to be endearing (like a Lafcadio Hearn translation/ghost-story), which I enjoy. The final story, attributed to M. G. Lewis, was clever and funny, a great ending.
To me, the argument Shelley is trying to make appears to ring home in principle. She describes walking through a house where a friend has recently passed away (as previously mentioned), feeling very depressed - as if all humanity were "but walking corpses." Suddenly, a wind bursts forth through the window, frightening her. Before this emotion manifests, however, she makes this curious remark: "I would have knelt until the stones had been worn by the impress." This hints at her being ashamed of her previous thoughts, this wind acting as a sort of wake-up call; the later fear her total ignorance of the cause. She acknowledges that some might not feel this latter, but even then, one must feel that "influences do exist to watch and guard over us." Through this story, and through other allusions to our 'nature' to be frightened when given a number of stimuli, she attempts to argue that we humans know of something that we are yet ignorant of. In a way, she asks us to listen to this feeling, and open our minds a bit to the idea (in this essay) of ghosts. She continues by saying she knows of two people who would avow in broad daylight their belief in ghosts, but - at least in my humble opinion - this continuation is rather still of a questioning short; she doesn't ever really move beyond the wish to open our minds. I'm fine with that; the evidence for ghosts is sorely lacking, she herself only having seen one in a dream, and these friends obviously being anecdotal evidence. She might believe, but she deliberately mentions unbelievers after her grief story, indicating to me that the essay still presupposes nonbelievers as reading. I think that fits with the theming well; after all, becoming more open does not indicate becoming more credulous. So, for a concluding thought, the only thing I can say is that I'm not totally convinced (which causes the single star removal), but that it was still interesting - a type of brain food. (The principle I referred to at the beginning of this paragraph comes down to the ability to be open minded to new ideas - ideas, if you'll allow me to be more specific, about things that are totally falsifiable [a person who tells a story of a ghost is not giving you proof of that ghost, for a revelation ceases to be a revelation the minute it becomes hearsay; in light of this, we could say that keeping an open mind to these hearsay revelations is good or beneficial in, if nothing else, an intellectual way.)
Post Note:
I think I should also mention that jumping from having a feeling (such as fear) to a conclusion such as she does isn't all that great. Although Shelley wouldn't have known this, it is a perfectly possible explanation to say that we fear because we've evolved to fear; these stories just hit the right buttons. Or, we have been socialized to fear in this way, if we wish to look at it that way. It is probably just a bit of a leap, at least to modern standards.
I don't agree with the logic (we'll be getting to that), but in terms of rhetoric, it is written beautifully. Her sentences seem to flow into each other, making her paragraphs the truly magnificent, to the detriment of the sentences if isolated. Luckily, her sentences are often the size of paragraphs anyway, so the issue is quite often avoided.
One of the best parts of this essay were the stories. Shelley walking into her dead friends home, the tale of the Englishman, and the tale of the Italian, were all good. I particularly like the first and third because, in order, the first shows Shelley attempting to denote what amounts to her persuasive argument, and the Italian story seems just weird enough to be endearing (like a Lafcadio Hearn translation/ghost-story), which I enjoy. The final story, attributed to M. G. Lewis, was clever and funny, a great ending.
To me, the argument Shelley is trying to make appears to ring home in principle. She describes walking through a house where a friend has recently passed away (as previously mentioned), feeling very depressed - as if all humanity were "but walking corpses." Suddenly, a wind bursts forth through the window, frightening her. Before this emotion manifests, however, she makes this curious remark: "I would have knelt until the stones had been worn by the impress." This hints at her being ashamed of her previous thoughts, this wind acting as a sort of wake-up call; the later fear her total ignorance of the cause. She acknowledges that some might not feel this latter, but even then, one must feel that "influences do exist to watch and guard over us." Through this story, and through other allusions to our 'nature' to be frightened when given a number of stimuli, she attempts to argue that we humans know of something that we are yet ignorant of. In a way, she asks us to listen to this feeling, and open our minds a bit to the idea (in this essay) of ghosts. She continues by saying she knows of two people who would avow in broad daylight their belief in ghosts, but - at least in my humble opinion - this continuation is rather still of a questioning short; she doesn't ever really move beyond the wish to open our minds. I'm fine with that; the evidence for ghosts is sorely lacking, she herself only having seen one in a dream, and these friends obviously being anecdotal evidence. She might believe, but she deliberately mentions unbelievers after her grief story, indicating to me that the essay still presupposes nonbelievers as reading. I think that fits with the theming well; after all, becoming more open does not indicate becoming more credulous. So, for a concluding thought, the only thing I can say is that I'm not totally convinced (which causes the single star removal), but that it was still interesting - a type of brain food. (The principle I referred to at the beginning of this paragraph comes down to the ability to be open minded to new ideas - ideas, if you'll allow me to be more specific, about things that are totally falsifiable [a person who tells a story of a ghost is not giving you proof of that ghost, for a revelation ceases to be a revelation the minute it becomes hearsay; in light of this, we could say that keeping an open mind to these hearsay revelations is good or beneficial in, if nothing else, an intellectual way.)
Post Note:
I think I should also mention that jumping from having a feeling (such as fear) to a conclusion such as she does isn't all that great. Although Shelley wouldn't have known this, it is a perfectly possible explanation to say that we fear because we've evolved to fear; these stories just hit the right buttons. Or, we have been socialized to fear in this way, if we wish to look at it that way. It is probably just a bit of a leap, at least to modern standards.
August 25, 2021
“On Ghosts” ****
Inventive investigative essay by Mary Shelley, first published in London Magazine (March 1824) and has her unique style imprinted in this work. Great read.
“terra incognita” = a term used in cartography for regions that have not been mapped or documented. Similarly, uncharted or unknown seas would be labeled “mare incognitum”.
“.. over-heated brain..”
“The Heir of Mondolfo” ****
Passion and fury, love and revenge. This is what makes Shelley’s writing so engaging.
“Passion, suddenly awake, made every artery tingle by its thrilling presence.”
Inventive investigative essay by Mary Shelley, first published in London Magazine (March 1824) and has her unique style imprinted in this work. Great read.
“terra incognita” = a term used in cartography for regions that have not been mapped or documented. Similarly, uncharted or unknown seas would be labeled “mare incognitum”.
“.. over-heated brain..”
“The Heir of Mondolfo” ****
Passion and fury, love and revenge. This is what makes Shelley’s writing so engaging.
“Passion, suddenly awake, made every artery tingle by its thrilling presence.”
January 4, 2018
I was interested to see how much Shelley thought the world of 1824 to be solved and without mystery (something I have thought in my life time) but still acknowledging there is much not known, so why not ghosts (again, I have wondered the same in the 21st century). The final tale, King of Cats, goes down as my favourite read of 2018 - what a timeless tale to show that the internet had not changed our humour in the slightest.
February 8, 2025
Sveučilišna tiskara
Zagreb, 2022.
Prijevod: Patricija Horvat
Razočaravajuće kada se zna tko je autorica, mogla je Shelley ovo puno bolje napisati.
Nič posebno.
Moguće da je prijevod loš, no čini mi se da je i jezik izvornika jako jednostavan.
Gdje je atmosferičnost ovog eseja?
Zagreb, 2022.
Prijevod: Patricija Horvat
Razočaravajuće kada se zna tko je autorica, mogla je Shelley ovo puno bolje napisati.
Nič posebno.
Moguće da je prijevod loš, no čini mi se da je i jezik izvornika jako jednostavan.
Gdje je atmosferičnost ovog eseja?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2022
Girlfriend read it to me. Good vibes. Fell asleep, a testament to good writing and storytelling in this case :')
December 29, 2023
i love mary shelley, everything she writes is quality!
January 6, 2025
Excellent and entertaining read. Great balance of philosophical contemplation of the unknown with good humour.
Read
March 19, 2025'the earth is a tomb, the gaudy sky a vault, we but walking corpses.'
October 23, 2025
I could somehow relate💔
gave me a little goosebump in the end (آخر شب بود آخه)
gave me a little goosebump in the end (آخر شب بود آخه)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews