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    The Transformation (Fantasy and Horror Classics)
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    The Transformation (Fantasy and Horror Classics)
    Unavailable
    The Transformation (Fantasy and Horror Classics)
    Ebook29 pages16 minutes

    The Transformation (Fantasy and Horror Classics)

    By Mary Shelley

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Mary Shelley wrote 'The Transformation' having been challenged by Lord Byron to pen an original ghost story. Eighteen months later, it became the classic novel, Frankenstein. The original tale provides fascinating insight into the story's genesis and beginnings. Many of the horror stories of monsters and ghouls, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateOct 19, 2012
    ISBN9781447499725
    Unavailable
    The Transformation (Fantasy and Horror Classics)
    Author

    Mary Shelley

    Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born in 1797, the daughter of two of the leading radical writers of the age. Her mother died just days after her birth and she was educated at home by her father and encouraged in literary pursuits. She eloped with and subsequently married the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, but their life together was full of hardship. The couple were ruined by disapproving parents and Mary lost three of her four children. Although its subject matter was extremely dark, her first novel Frankenstein (1818) was an instant sensation. Subsequent works such as Mathilda (1819), Valperga (1823) and The Last Man (1826) were less successful but are now finally receiving the critical acclaim that they deserve.

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    Reviews for The Transformation (Fantasy and Horror Classics)

    3.5/5

    15 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Mary Shelley is best known for "Frankenstein" and, to a lesser extent, her end-of-days novel "The Last Man". However, apart from a number of other novels, she also wrote several short stories, often with a supernatural or fantastic theme. Three of these are included in this attractive paperback edition published by Hesperus Classics. The title piece - "Transformation" - describes the narrator's Faustian pact with a devilish dwarf, and is rich in Gothic tropes. "The Mortal Immortal" features a hapless protagonist who drinks an elixir of life and eventually discovers that immortality is more of a bane than a blessing. "The Evil Eye" is a tale of warring tribes and family feuds set in the Balkans. Despite its title, its subject is not overtly supernatural but, in its exoticism and unexpected plot twists it recalls respectively the "Oriental Gothic" and the then budding genre of "sensation literature". All three stories are finely crafted and reveal an active imagination at work. "Frankenstein" was certainly no one-off.
    • 4/5
      This is a good little book: just three stories collected together, but they're all interesting.

      The first two are in the Gothic tradition: the title story, Transformation is a story of about the squandering of youth's potential, of decadence and selfishness. A morality tale, but not overbearingly so. The scene of Guido on the desolate shore, meeting with the dwarf cast up from the stormy sea is very effective.

      The second story, The Mortal Immortal tells of the growing loneliness and despair felt by Winzy (who considers himself to be a young immortal, being only 323 years old) as all that he knows and loves passes away. This is a take on the Sorcerer's Apprentice motif and the most tragic in tone of the three stories.

      The last story, The Evil Eye, is not Gothic, but would, I'm sure, have been received as rather exotic at the time of its original publication (1829). Set in Albania and Greece, this is a tale of sibling rivalry, vengeance and treachery, piracy, banditry and abduction. The unlikely coincidences are forgiveable in such an engagingly-told story.

      I liked the way Shelley switched the focus on characters as you're not at first sure where your sympathies should lie. I think it's good when authors skew your expectations and don't immediately give you everything on a plate.
    • 3/5
      The first two stories are the best and are set firmly in the gothic horror cannon, tales of doppelgangers and immortality, filled with high emotion and evocative prose. The last is more of an adventure tale and I liked it a lot less. I found the style jarring, too much like a long list of rushed facts and so I was unable to connect with the theme of loss it was supposed to engender . Still overall the book was enjoyable but far too short to recommend you buy it. I love Heserpus books but they could have included more tales!