Mary Shelley: Gothic Tales

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

One of three Signature Select Classics chapbooks steeped in the thrills and chills of the gothic tradition, publishing simultaneously with chapbooks of similarly weird works by Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft.
This stunning chapbook—perfect for fans of the mysterious and macabre—comprises Mary Shelley’s classic tale of a botched experiment in immortality, “The Mortal Immortal,” and “On Ghosts: An Essay,” her appraisal of popular ghost legends. It features elegantly designed cardstock covers with flaps and intricate foil-stamped designs.

Genres: Classics, Horror, Short Stories, Gothic, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction

64 pages, Paperback

Published August 16, 2022

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

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘The more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life.’

Do you believe in ghosts? Gothic Tales, a slim little volume that collects a short story and an essay by Mary Shelley asks this question in the latter, ruminating on why tales of ghosts still capture our attention and fears even as science and reasoning have brushed aside many mysteries and myths of the world. This is a fun little book that serves as a gothic snack for those who may have only read Shelley’s famed Frankenstein and it made for the perfect spooky season treat to read it on this wet and grey autumn day. In it we find Shelley grappling with familiar themes and forcing the reader to confront ideas of death and ask what frightens more, the haunting of a spectral existence beyond the grave or one in which we must cover the corpses of all we know with dirt while being denied the peaceful finality ourselves.

The short story in this collection, The Mortal Immortal was written for a 1834 annual literary collection called Keepsake, who published over half of Shelley’s 21 commissioned stories during her life. The story was inspired by a painting that shows a young man and woman assisting an elderly woman on the stairs, and so in The Mortal Immortal we follow Winzy as he must experience his beloved wife as both a young and old woman while he himself is unable to age. This confessional narrative probes a familiar theme to fans of Frankenstein, showing how those who attempt to subvert or outwit the natural world tend to open up horrors beyond their imaginings. Here we see Winzy find his immortality—or possibly just a long life, the uncertainty of this which haunts him even on his 303rd birthday—to be a curse that drives him to thoughts of self-destruction. There is a fun romantic plot complete with bitterness of a rival, some digs at arranging marriages for finance instead of love, an alchemist and is overall a fun 30pg read.

‘But do none of us believe in ghosts? Shelley asks in her essay On Ghosts. She discusses how the advances in science have taken much of the mystery of the world away but that belief in ghosts still seems to linger. ‘For my own part, I never saw a ghost except once in a dream,’ she tells us, but discusses how ghosts can inhabit the spaces ‘of which we are ignorant.’

‘beyond our soul’s ken, there is an empty space, and our hopes and fears, in gentle gales or terrific whirlwinds, occupy the vacuum.’

Shelley relates three fun tales of hauntings, such as a ghost with hardly a head left and a talking cat, and I enjoyed the subtle dig that she was more willing to relate these tales ‘since they occurred to men,’ a nice barbed statement that she herself is often disbelieved for being a woman.

Gothic Tales is a little Halloween treat that makes for a fun way to pass an evening. Plus the cover art is amazing. So tell me, dear reader, do you believe in ghosts?

3.5/5

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"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."

We all think of Frankenstein whenever we hear the name Mary Shelley. Even though she’s released other books and short stories, she’ll forever be automatically remembered as the creator of a fiery monster.

This was a good introduction to short stories and essays by Shelley. Shelley knows how to grasp your attention with such little information. She doesn’t give it all away at once and it keeps you fully invested. This is why she’ll forever be one of the greatest in her craft.

[Shu Wei Chin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Shelley is officially my muse ✨

[Vick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Shelley never disappoints, I’m ready for the spooky season now 👻

[Kendra Cusworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

i, too, am also the king of cats

okay but i was floored by this line:
“… thus, beyond our soul’s ken, there is an empty space, and our hopes and fears, in gentle gales or terrific whirlwinds, occupy the vacuum..”

[Jeff te cuenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logrado al final aunque tengo que confesar que me brinque un cuento porque estaba muy malo. 🤣🤣

[Tree ✶.˚⟡ ࣪ ⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mortal Immortal: 5/5 ⭐️
On Ghosts: 3/5 ⭐️

[Lore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just adore Mary Shelley’s writing style so much!!

This is a very small collection of two very short works from Mary Shelley.

The Mortal Immortal: 5 stars
A short story that was entertaining, readable, and quite sad.

On Ghosts: 3 stars
A quick think piece that was humorous and gothic.

I would revisit both works in the future!!

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars to the Mortal Immortal and 2 stars to On Ghosts so I give it 3 stars overall.

The Mortal Immortal was actually quite sad and I do love me a good sad story. The ending was just a little confusing and felt unfulfilling.

On Ghosts just blatantly made no sense to me. Just when I thought I was grasping the idea I would get confused all over again. The story of the cavalier is the only reason I give it two stars instead of one.

[Smack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like they could’ve picked better stories, especially with how spooky the cover looks, but they were still interesting to read. I love the cat king.

[Nox · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️
The only thing by Mary Shelley that I've read in the past was Frankenstein, so I decided to pick this little book up, which has a short story and an essay. Both of these were very good, and the essay On Ghosts was really interesting. I'm glad I finally got around to reading this.

[Taio · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love you Mary Shelley

[Mary Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two short stories written in poetic Mary Shelley prose. The first story about immortality and the second about ghosts. A nice quick read to add to my reading challenge👍

[Kim Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great double feature of Mary Shelley's work including a work of fiction and an essay on ghosts.

[Lucy Gould · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have I said how much I love Mary Shelley? Because I love Mary Shelley.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

“…the earth is a tomb, the gaudy sky a vault, we but walking corpses.”

Ugh, I love Mary Shelley.

[Ronja Rüegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

She understands how to write horror without a terrifying monster.

[Path.Through.Pages · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great introduction to Mary Shelley!

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a bit to get into this with the writing style but I grew to enjoy it. I especially liked the first story.

[Cassandra Plunkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
I really enjoyed the first story The Mortal Immortal.

[Mabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first story and it's an interesting premise but couldn't get into the second. The writing was quite poetic in parts

[Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent Halloween read! Felt like the short story would have been better if it was about twice as long. It felt like it could have been very grand in scope but was very limited. The essay as well was interesting and definitely was a vibe but I wish it was a bit longer. It felt a little "Ghosts, ammiright?" But still, for a quick read it wasn't bad. Very excited to read the Lovecraft and Poe installments of this same series before Halloween.

[Cissy Black_94 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serían 4,5⭐.
Lo primero que leo de Mary Shelley y he de decir que me ha gustado mucho. Son cuentos originales, inesperados, con personajes de lo más variopintos. Me gusta que en muchos de ellos se haga referencia a los distintos tipos de amor y a sus consecuencias, a la naturaleza ambigua de los hombres, a las emociones en su grado extremo. Todo ello se ve acunado por un estilo de escritura recargado que le queda muy bien, y unas descripciones que te transportan a las diferentes regiones mencionadas.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author of the classic horror novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus also wrote other things. This chapbook from Union Square & Co. reprints one of her short stories and an essay she wrote.

“The Mortal Immortal” is a memoir by a fictional student of Cornelius Agrippa, Winzy. While Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa was a historical person, this story riffs on a legend about one of the famous alchymist’s scholars trying to raise a foul spirit solo and getting killed in the process. In this version, the other apprentices abandoned their master in fear, and Winzy had planned to do likewise.

But Winzy was a poverty-stricken youth in love with the beautiful Bertha, who’d been adopted by their village’s richest widow and was being groomed for marriage to whichever upper crust fellow most impressed that woman. Bertha also had some affection for Winzy, but his poverty and lack of prospects caused her to push him away. Strapped for cash, he goes back to Cornelius Agrippa.

During a particularly rough patch with his sweetheart, Winzy is helping Cornelius Agrippa create a potion that the alchemist describes as “a cure for love.” Cornelius takes a nap during a crucial stage of the cooking, leaving Winzy in charge of watching. Winzy gets distracted, and when the potion smells good decides to try this “cure.” He swigs about half of it, then realizes what he’s done and drops the bottle, smashing it. The alchemist assumes that the potion exploded on its own and Winzy lets him think that.

Instead of curing Winzy’s affection for Bertha, the potion causes it to grow and fill Winzy with confidence and energy. Impressed with his improvement, Bertha abandons her potential inheritance to marry her childhood sweetie. They’re very happy together for a while.

A few years later, Cornelius Agrippa dies while trying to recreate the formula, letting slip that it was only a “cure for love” in the loosest sense. As an immortality elixir it was meant to be a cure for every ill. Winzy is now faced with more or less eternal youth while his wife grows ever older, crabbier and more decrepit.

Three centuries later, Winzy has found a gray hair. Does this mean he’s aging after all? He’s not willing to wait around to find out. He’s found a goal that will either kill him or make him famous. And there’s something even more drastic to follow.

Without the love of his life, immortality becomes hollow for Winzy. As a subplot, we learn how his eternal youth causes problems with being able to live in society. This could easily have become a novel or a series if Mrs. Shelley had wanted, but it works okay with skipping the many intervening years.

“On Ghosts” is an essay on the idea of restless spirits of the dead. Mary points out that modern (early 19th Century) society had largely discarded the monsters and mysteries of the past as civilization and technology made the world tame. But the notion of ghosts persisted.

She herself had only seen a ghost in a dream, but recounts two of her theoretically truthful friends’ accounts. One had lost a lover, and often saw her appear at night to stroke his cheek while he was drowsing, until he moved and she stopped appearing. Another had a friend commit suicide (with his gun and ammunition that he’d loaned the man!) and saw his bloody shade in a hedged lane twice. Neither had hard evidence, naturally.

The essay concludes with a somewhat less likely anecdote about the king of the cats, which Mrs. Shelley points out is probably fake, but amusing.

This is pretty mild stuff, but a good reminder that the “modern era” has been going on for much longer than most folks would credit.

If you’ve never read anything of Mary Shelley’s work but Frankenstein, this chapbook might be a good place to start, but you can also find much of it at Project Gutenberg in less stylish dress. This would, however, make a nice gift for a gothic literature fan; the packaging is deliberately designed to be a present.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gothic Tales by Mary Shelley
Gnarly sketchy b&w cover illustration. Cool mini book accompanying the same style as their Edgar Allan Poe edition.

“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 neighbouring wood, and meet me beside its shady fountain.”
“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!
…

“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 labelled “mare incognitum”.
“.. over-heated brain..”

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 rounded up to 4 stars

This slim volume contained two short works by Mary Shelley. The first, "The Mortal Immortal," is a short story whose protagonist recounts how he became immortal and the unforeseen consequences of his longevity. I enjoyed it, but I may have enjoyed the second piece more. "On Ghosts," is an essay by Shelley about how death and grief intertwine with and influence the ghost legends of Shelley's time. This collection also made me want to prioritize finally reading Frankenstein.

This passage from "On Ghosts," where Shelley contemplates the recent death of a dear friend as she walks through the home where she had last seen them, is lovely:

I walked through the rooms, filled with sensations of the most poignant grief. He had been there; his living frame had been caged by those walls, his breath had mingled with that atmosphere, his step had been on these stones, I thought:--the earth is a tomb, the gaudy sky a vault, we but walking corpses. The wind rising in the east, rushed through the open casements, making them shake:--methought I heard, I felt--I know not what--but I trembled. To have seen him but for a moment, I would have knelt until the stones had been worn by the impress, so I told myself, and so I knew a moment after; but then I trembled, awe-struck and fearful. Wherefore? There is something beyond us of which we are ignorant. The sun drawing up the vaporous air, makes a void, and the wind rushes in to fill it; thus, beyond our soul's ken, there is an empty space, and our hopes and fears, in gentle gales or terrific whirlwinds, occupy the vacuum; and if it does no more, it bestows on the feeling heart a belief that influences do exist to watch and guard us, though they may be impalpable to the coarser faculties.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who hasn't heard of Mary Shelley, the writer of her most famous book, Frankenstein, not that I've read it? So when I came across this little 50 page book in a Little Library not long ago, I decided I had to read it, even with it only having a 3.59 on goodreads. (I don't generally reads books with less than a 3.90.)

Gothic Tales consists of a short story called, The Mortal Immortal and an essay called On Ghosts. I enjoyed The Mortal Immortal over On Ghosts.

The Mortal Immortal is about a man named Winzy living in poverty. He happens to be in love with the beautiful Bertha, the adopted daughter of the village's richest widow who can only be wed in upper society. Fortunately, Bertha has feelings for him as well.

Winzy is an apprentice and left to watch his master's, "a cure for love" potion. He ends up drinking half of it, before realizing what he has done and smashes onto the floor. The potion fills Winzy with confidence and energy. Bertha notices and she abandons her inheritance. They wed and are very happy together. As the years go by, Winzy is not aging, while his beautiful, lovely wife is. And as she ages, she becomes resentful and there is much tension between the two. Three centuries later, Winzy finally finds his first gray hair. Is he finally starting to age? He needs to find out.

I feel the essay "On Ghosts" should had been the first story because after enjoying The Mortal Immortal, it was a letdown and not how I wanted to feel in finishing the novel.

On Ghosts was Mary Shelley's opinions on what ghosts are or what she believes them to be. She's gives examples of supernatural events she's either witnessed or heard about. I really didn't enjoy the story, not because I had issues with the subject matter, rather I was kinda bored with it all.

[Steven Guida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only 50 pages but what a writer Shelley was even in short form. The first half is a short story called mortal immortal which is so beautiful and sad and yes, gothic. A poor guy in love with his childhood sweetheart drinks what he thinks is a love potion from this mad scientist he works for but turns out to be an immortality potion. He doesn’t realize it though until the years go buy in his marriage to his love Bertha and she’s aging and he stays twenty. This obviously causes tension and resentment and scorn but they stay together until she dies. It’s a beautiful short story and meditation on what it means to be alive, in love and human. Makes you accept mortality easier too.

The next half is her reflections “On Ghosts” and though this is more like an essay or a diary entry it reads like a beautiful, chilling and sometimes humorous Gothic poem. The funniest thing is the “king of cats” at the end. The whole thing is about the advancement of modernity and science and is there even room in the new world for anything esoteric or spiritual. And she insists it’s with ghosts. Great read right before Halloween.

[clara ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

🗝️: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Thus have I lived on for many a year—alone, and weary of myself—desirous of death, yet never dying—a mortal immortal.

en mi misión por leerme todo lo de miss shelley he empezado por estas dos historietas 🫡 “the mortal immortal” es bastante similar a frankenstein pero con toques de una historia de amor y unas reflexiones un poco vampirescas que lo hacen lo suficientemente interesante por su propia cuenta. soy incapaz de ser objetiva con este relato por a) los temas que trata, que son mi obsesión, sobretodo la parte de cómo la inmortalidad sí acaba matando al amor, b) el estilo de shelley que literalmente es la perfección gótica y que por supuesto también es muy de mi gusto así que 5 estrellas porque puedo y quiero. “on ghosts: an essay” es una lectura curiosa pero ahí se queda, también porque pretende ser una reflexión corta más que otra cosa…igualmente he subrayado unos cuantos fragmentos porque yo creo que shelley podría redactar la lista de la compra y también me parecería interesante.

[Brandon Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously I was excited for this collection because I'm a huge fan of Shelley's Frankenstein. Not to mention, the cover for this book is STUNNING!

There were two stories included within this collection:
- "The Mortal Immortal" (5/5 Stars)
- "On Ghosts: An Essay" (3/5 Stars)
I enjoyed both of these stories, and it was great to experience Shelley's writing in a shorter context.

"The Mortal Immortal" was, to me, the clearly superior story here. I highlighted and annotated so many passages that I found interesting, and it was unbelievably readable for a story that was written in the early 19th century. We follow a man who accidentally, yet by his own means, becomes immortal. It is a fascinating look at life, love, humanity, and so much more.

"On Ghosts: An Essay" felt a little lackluster after following "The Mortal Immortal," but it was still an interesting read. There were a few sections that stood out to me upon my reading, and I highlighted those areas; however, it just wasn't quite up to par with the story I had just finished.

If you enjoy gothic literature or Mary Shelley, I believe you will find like this collection.