Mary Shelley: The Birth of Frankenstein

Her father was philosopher William Godwin. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was feminism's founder. By pedigree and experience, Mary Shelley was uncannily equipped to write the gothic masterpiece, Frankenstein. This program offers a fresh exploration of her novel, focusing on how Shelley's personal life influenced the book and mirrored it afterwards. Along with reenactments of scenes from her classic and dramatizations of her life, the program draws from a wealth of primary sources, including readings from her mother's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Mary Shelley's personal letters, as well as those of her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron. A BBCW Production. (60 minutes, color