SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Isabelle Berrick and I'm the host of Working It. It's a new weekly podcast from the Financial Times about doing work differently. So that's things like unlimited vacation time, wild perks and the wellness craze. On Working It, we'll separate the good, the bad and the woo woo. I'll be joined by fellow FT journalists who report on these stories every day and together we'll figure out what really works. So that's Working It from the Financial Times. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER_03: Today, we're talking about a woman who wrote a spooky story that has stood the test of time. A character from her book is still an iconic Halloween costume. At only 18 years of age, this womannequin began writing her most famous work, Frankenstein. Please welcome Mary Shelley. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born in Summerstown, London on August 30th, 1797. Her father, William Godwin, was a radical British political thinker and an atheist, which was extremely uncommon at the time. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was an ardent feminist who in 1792 published a vindication of the rights of women. Sadly, just 11 days after Mary was born, her mother passed away due to birthing complications. Mary was raised alongside Fanny Godwin, a half-sister on her mother's side. Though Fanny was not his biological child, William adopted her and raised her as his own. In 1801, William remarried. His new wife brought with her two children of her own and a few years later a fifth child joined the family. All of the children were educated in the home and due to his radical beliefs, William didn't differ their education based on sex. Mary was an intellectual child and learned a bit of Latin, Greek, French, and Italian. Because her father ran in London's intellectual circles, the children were exposed to various thinkers and scientists at the time whose work would later influence Mary's writing. When Mary was 14, her father sent her to live in Scotland. During one of her returns from Scotland, she got to know a young man by the name of Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was an admirer of her father's. Percy came from a posh family. His father was a conservative member of parliament and Percy wanted to rebel against everything his father stood for. Though he attended Oxford, he was kicked out for distributing a pamphlet called The Necessity of Atheism. Despite the fact that Percy had a wife, Mary and Percy fell in love. In 1814, the pair eloped and spent time traveling throughout Europe, though they couldn't legally marry as Percy was not divorced. After returning to England from their two-month tour, Mary was pregnant. However, much like her own mother's experience, Mary's birth weren't without tragedy. Her first child, a daughter, died only a few weeks after she was born. Soon after, Mary was pregnant with another child. She named him William after her father, but he too died in infancy. Several years later, Mary lost a third child, another daughter who was barely a year old. Only Mary's fourth child, also named Percy Shelley, survived to adulthood. In 1816, Mary set off again for Europe with Percy. This time, her step-sister, Clare, and Clare's lover, the poet Lord Byron, joined the trip. Their travels brought them to a villa on the shores of Lake Geneva. Though the exact details of this trip are often disputed, a popular recounting claims Lord Byron suggested to his villa guests that they all write a ghost story. This prompt spurred what would eventually become Mary's most famous novel, Frankenstein. Mary was just 18 when she wrote the story and only 19 when it was published anonymously. Frankenstein was the tale of a scientist who creates a man from parts of corpses and brings him to life. Some historians point to the ideas at the time about galvanism and the ability to use electricity to reanimate human corpses as inspiration for the tale. Since its publication, readers have found various forms of deeper significance in the text. Some of these claims include that it's an allegory of the French Revolution and commentary on industrialism. Though Mary was not beginning to find literary success, tragedy was pervasive in her life. First, her sister Fanny died by suicide. Then Percy's wife drowned herself while pregnant with his child. Despite these solemn events, Percy and Mary were wed just two weeks after hearing the news of her death. Mary and Percy decided to pick up and move to Santo Renzo, Italy. There, Mary suffered a miscarriage in which she lost so much blood that she nearly died. In 1822, Percy embarked on a trip in his boat, the Danne wine, to meet up with several poets. On the return trip, a violent storm hit and Percy, along with the rest of the crew on the boat, drowned in the Gulf of Spezia. He was only 29 years old at the time of his death. His death was hard on Mary, both emotionally and financially. She ran out of money and returned to London. Though nothing else she wrote paralleled the success of Frankenstein, she continued writing. She published several novels as well as other volumes of prose, including biographies, short stories and travel writings. Mary did live to see her surviving son wed in the summer of 1848. Five years later, at the age of 53, Mary died in her home in London. All month, we're highlighting prodigies. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast. You can order Horizon Troublemaker everywhere books are sold. Special thanks to creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan for inviting me to guest host. Talk to you tomorrow.
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