3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dr. Frankenstein, I presume?, October 9, 2000
Phy-Olsen's command of Mary Shelley's creative ouvre is magisterial. Not only does she understand Shelley, but there's an over-arching concern that we not accept Mary Shelley as a WOMAN writer, so much as we see her as a creative one. Shelley was, of course, over-shadowed by her far better known husband. But few readers realize that her book, 'that hideous progeny,'Frankenstein, was written on a whim, more or less, during Lord Byon's famous ghost-story writing in 1816. The group effort, which Byron surely though he'd win, is known to us today because only Mary Shelley's work survived. For this alone she deserves remembering, though it was hardly her only effort. Phy-Olsen combines wit, scholarship and a panache for the little-known to make this a compelling and entertaing read. Moreover, she appears not to house, thankfully, a single feminist axe to grind, and in so doing, positions Shelley in the pantheon of writers better than any feminist harridan could have hoped to accomplish.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No