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The Mortal Immortal, and the Evil Eye
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (nee Godwin) (1797-1851) was an English romantic gothic novelist. She received an excellent education, which was unusual for girls at the time. She never went to school, but she was taught to read and write by Louisa Jones, and then educated in a broad range of subjects by her father, who gave her free access to his extensive library. In particular, she was encouraged to write stories, and one of these early works Mounseer Nongtongpaw was published by the Godwin Company's Juvenile Library when she was only eleven. One night, perhaps attributable to Galvani's report, Mary had a waking dream; she recounted the episode in this way: "What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow. " This nightmare served as the basis for the novel that she entitled Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). Amongst her other works are: The Last Man, Proserpine, Midas and Notes to the Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2,343 books8,572 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 13, 2023
a fanfic about being the student of cornelius agrippa written by mary shelley in 1833. 5 stars
August 16, 2013
I wouldn't say this was a bad story, but I think my heart just wasn't in it when I was reading it. I was a bit distracted and didn't really do it justice as a reader, and to be honest I can't even explain properly what happened throughout. That makes this probably the most unhelpful review ever, but oh well :P
May 12, 2019
Mary Shelley’s THE MORTAL IMMORTAL
Intriguing and somewhat beguiling. I love the premise as an inversion of our fear of death, only to highlight the darker side of living eternally. ****
My favourite lines are:
“.. she often visited the cottage of my father, and when forbidden to go thither, she would stray toward the neighboring wood, and meet me beside its shady fountain.” (p33)
“Death! mysterious, ill-visaged friend of weak humanity! Why alone of all mortals have you cast me from your sheltering fold? Oh, for the peace of the grave! the deep silence of the iron-bound tomb! that thought would cease to work in my brain, and my heart beat no more with emotions varied only by new forms of sadness!”
“And the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life. Such an enigma is man -- born to perish -- when he wars, as I do, against the established laws of his nature.”
“(...) but, oh! the weight of never-ending time—the tedious passage of the still-succeeding hours!”
“Sometimes I fancy age advancing upon me. One grey hair I have found. Fool! do I lament? Yes, the fear of age and death often creeps coldly into my heart; and the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life.”
….
The story opens with:
JULY 16, 1833. --This is a memorable anniversary for me; on it I complete my three hundred and twenty-third year!
The Wandering Jew?--certainly not. More than eighteen centuries have passed over his head. In comparison with him, I am a very young Immortal.
Am I, then, immortal? This is a question which I have asked myself, by day and night, for now three hundred and three years, and yet cannot answer it.
I detected a gray hair amidst my brown locks this very day-- that surely signifies decay. Yet it may have remained concealed there for three hundred years--for some persons have become entirely white headed before twenty years of age.
I will tell my story, and my reader shall judge for me. I will tell my story, and so contrive to pass some few hours of a long eternity, become so wearisome to me. For ever! Can it be? to live for ever!
….............................
…............................
Mary Shelley's THE EVIL EYE
Why hasn't this been made into a film? All the elements are there! ****
My favourite lines are:
“He could read and write Greek, and a book was often stowed beside his pistols in his girdle.” (p54)
Desideratum = something that is needed or wanted. (p58)
“But what was the ill that had occurred? Unapparent was it yet; but the spirit of evil is most fatal when unseen.” (p60)
“Her worst fears were thus confirmed; her maternal heart, lately so joyous, became the abode of despair...” (p62-63)
“What is there so fearful as the expectation of evil tidings delayed? ... Misery is a more welcome visitant when she comes in her darkest guise and wraps us in perpetual black, for then the heart no longer sickens with disappointed hope.” (p68)
“.. with the swiftness of a torrent fed by the thawing of the snows in spring, he dashed down he steep hill...” (p71)
...
“The Evil Eye” is a piece of short fiction written by Mary Shelley and published in The Keepsake for 1830. The tale is set in Greece and is about a man known as Dmitri of the Evil Eye. Dmitri's wife was murdered and his daughter abducted many years before the story begins. Dmitri's friend Katusthius Ziani enlists him to help recover his rightful inheritance, and during their journey they abduct a boy whom Dmitri discovers to be his grandson.
Intriguing and somewhat beguiling. I love the premise as an inversion of our fear of death, only to highlight the darker side of living eternally. ****
My favourite lines are:
“.. she often visited the cottage of my father, and when forbidden to go thither, she would stray toward the neighboring wood, and meet me beside its shady fountain.” (p33)
“Death! mysterious, ill-visaged friend of weak humanity! Why alone of all mortals have you cast me from your sheltering fold? Oh, for the peace of the grave! the deep silence of the iron-bound tomb! that thought would cease to work in my brain, and my heart beat no more with emotions varied only by new forms of sadness!”
“And the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life. Such an enigma is man -- born to perish -- when he wars, as I do, against the established laws of his nature.”
“(...) but, oh! the weight of never-ending time—the tedious passage of the still-succeeding hours!”
“Sometimes I fancy age advancing upon me. One grey hair I have found. Fool! do I lament? Yes, the fear of age and death often creeps coldly into my heart; and the more I live, the more I dread death, even while I abhor life.”
….
The story opens with:
JULY 16, 1833. --This is a memorable anniversary for me; on it I complete my three hundred and twenty-third year!
The Wandering Jew?--certainly not. More than eighteen centuries have passed over his head. In comparison with him, I am a very young Immortal.
Am I, then, immortal? This is a question which I have asked myself, by day and night, for now three hundred and three years, and yet cannot answer it.
I detected a gray hair amidst my brown locks this very day-- that surely signifies decay. Yet it may have remained concealed there for three hundred years--for some persons have become entirely white headed before twenty years of age.
I will tell my story, and my reader shall judge for me. I will tell my story, and so contrive to pass some few hours of a long eternity, become so wearisome to me. For ever! Can it be? to live for ever!
….............................
…............................
Mary Shelley's THE EVIL EYE
Why hasn't this been made into a film? All the elements are there! ****
My favourite lines are:
“He could read and write Greek, and a book was often stowed beside his pistols in his girdle.” (p54)
Desideratum = something that is needed or wanted. (p58)
“But what was the ill that had occurred? Unapparent was it yet; but the spirit of evil is most fatal when unseen.” (p60)
“Her worst fears were thus confirmed; her maternal heart, lately so joyous, became the abode of despair...” (p62-63)
“What is there so fearful as the expectation of evil tidings delayed? ... Misery is a more welcome visitant when she comes in her darkest guise and wraps us in perpetual black, for then the heart no longer sickens with disappointed hope.” (p68)
“.. with the swiftness of a torrent fed by the thawing of the snows in spring, he dashed down he steep hill...” (p71)
...
“The Evil Eye” is a piece of short fiction written by Mary Shelley and published in The Keepsake for 1830. The tale is set in Greece and is about a man known as Dmitri of the Evil Eye. Dmitri's wife was murdered and his daughter abducted many years before the story begins. Dmitri's friend Katusthius Ziani enlists him to help recover his rightful inheritance, and during their journey they abduct a boy whom Dmitri discovers to be his grandson.
August 21, 2024
I really liked The Mortal Immortal. Reading it as a precursor of The Picture of Dorian Gray made it ten folds better and more enjoyable. Especially when a comparison of the two characters is made. Such comparison is all the more intriguing when one reads fiction as something more than just fiction. Suppose it was you,the reader, in the boots of either one of these forever young men, what would you do then? And how would you feel?
April 11, 2020
Topics such as death and the fear of dying are ones which I always jump on. Shelley has beautifully yet hauntingly described the inner turmoil of a human bound to immortality. It makes us reflect on our own mortality and how having a life expectancy makes life all the more worthwhile.
August 8, 2021
Empiezo a sospechar que esta señora tenía un poco de obsesión con la muerte. Me ha recordado un poco a El Inmortal de Borges, aunque supongo que hay pocas variaciones que se puedan hacer sobre el tema de la inmortalidad.
October 12, 2023
A horror story about time. A beautiful narrative of the desperation of standing still in time as everything around you decays.
October 7, 2024
it’s mary shelley so of course i enjoyed it
April 14, 2025
I asked myself if suicide is a crime for someone for whom it would be the only possibility to open the door to the other world.
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August 30, 2025i love alchemy
November 29, 2025
wonderful!! can really see her love for this weird atmosphere and suffering narrator !!
May 17, 2023
Mary Shelley I love you
September 27, 2014
Shelley will always be a love of mine, but this tale (The Mortal Immortal)was merely middling compared to other works. Excellent gothic story-telling, but the whole tale was delivered as an after-thought of an immortal, thereby reducing any of the stakes or suspense. A fun fall read, but not a work I will revisit.
September 30, 2013
Gothic horror. I listened to an audio version of The Mortal Immortal short story read by Shaun Dooley. The plot is not very plausible but is dramatic.
November 23, 2024
“Death! Mysterious, ill-visages friend of weak humanity! Why alone of all mortals have you cast me from your sheltering fold?”
Eternal life may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Eternal life may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews