Shelley’s account of writing Frankenstein connects invention with remembered companionship. Read her authorial introduction separately from the novel’s characters and their competing accounts of responsibility.
The Gutenberg catalogue identifies Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and gives her lifetime as 1797–1851. Its linked text reproduces the 1831 edition through a photo-reprint, with an introduction by the author. In that introduction she recalls the summer of 1816 in Switzerland and an exchange of ghost stories that prompted writing. This is her retrospective account of the work’s origin, rather than a date for every quoted sentence. Her catalogue lifetime supplies biographical context only; the existing archive records and their undated placement remain unchanged.
The selected passage comes near the end of Shelley’s introduction, where she sends the book into the world again and associates it with days of companionship before bereavement. The following sentences continue that personal recollection; she then comments on changes to the text. The complete selected extract matches the checked English edition under limited punctuation, case and spacing comparison. Its affectionate reference to the work is the author’s retrospective voice, not a speech by Victor or the creature. A matching extract does not verify every supplied quotation attributed to Shelley.
Begin with the 1831 introduction and read beyond the selected recollection into Shelley’s account of revision. Then distinguish that authorial voice from the novel’s narrators and characters. The complete selected English extract matches this edition under limited normalization. The archive preserves its contributor-supplied wording and uncertainty; neither the match nor the profile independently authenticates all associated records. The 1831 edition is distinct from the earlier 1818 text.
Subjects to explore
Editorial reading connections, distinct from the archive’s word matching.
Original agent-assisted editorial profile, checked 2026-10-05. No human review is recorded. Life dates are recorded to the year; they do not date individual quotations.
Checked identity/lifetime, specific edition metadata and US-public-domain basis. Digital dates and automatic synopsis do not date or authenticate archive quotations. Reference checked 2026-10-05.
Complete selected English extracts and adjacent author/narrator context checked under punctuation/case/spacing only; no whole-corpus authentication or human review. Reference checked 2026-10-05.