https://notsobasicwitches.tumblr.com/post/619197257443590144/mary-wollstonecraft-mother-of-the-marys
My second post on Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley & early feminist author!
If you are looking for the announcement thread for the previous month, it may be found here.
Since the book club traditionally concludes every month with an AMA by the author of the selection, we never really have the opportunity to collectively explore older works; so during the month of October, we thought we would try something a little different. We will be reading the classic horror novel (and novella) Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley & The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Each week there will be a discussion thread and when we are done, we will have an AMA with author and professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature in the Department of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London - Roger Luckhurst. Roger specializes in Victorian literature as well as Gothic & weird fiction and is notable for his introductions and editorships to the Oxford World's Classics series volumes: Late Victorian Gothic Tales*,* Dracula, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde*,* The Portrait of a Lady*,* H.P. Lovecraft's Classic Horror Tales*,* King Solomonβs Mines*,* and The Time Machine among others. If you ever have had any questions on classic (or contemporary) horror, he is the one to ask.
From the BBC (Frankenstein):
>Frankenstein tells the story of gifted scientist Victor Frankenstein who succeeds in giving life to a being of his own creation. However, this is not the perfect specimen he imagines that it will be, but rather a hideous creature who is rejected by Victor and mankind in general.
From Goodreads (The Yellow Wallpaper):
>A woman and her husband rent a summer house, but what should be a restful getaway turns into a suffocating psychological battle. This chilling account of postpartum depression and a husband's controlling behavior in the guise of treatment will leave you breathless.
Since both works are in the public domain, you may find copies of each through Project Gutenberg - Frankenstein and The Yellow Wallpaper. These are the editions referenced for the purpose of dividing the weekly readings though any edition should be fine.
You may find the dates of, and links to, the discussion t
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As children we are wired for connection. We depend on our parents for all the basic necessities of life. For food, for warmth, and above all; for love.
Mathilda is the fictional autobiographical telling of a young woman's life, right before it is about to meet it's tragic end. Early in the book we learn of the tragic events surrounding Mathilda's birth and of her parents.
Mathilda's father we learn was a man who though on the outside was playful and joyous, was at the constant service of those around him. Even as a young man Mathilda's father (who is never named in the book) is a man whom can never be satisfied until every person in the room is as cheerful as he. We can tell from Mathilda's description of her father that he was a man very desperate for love and attention. This is perhaps most evident when we learn of the death of Mathilda's grandmother.
After the loss of Mathilda's father's mother, he becomes heartbroken and looks to his childhood friend Mathilda's mother for comfort. Mathilda's mother is never given much character in the book. All we are to know of her is that she was beautiful, charming, and wise beyond her years.
She was the lifelong object of Mathilda's father's affection and we can see how after losing his mother and marrying Mathilda's mother; this love becomes a life-support system for him.
Shortly after Mathilda's birth, her mother dies. This destroys Mathilda's father who decides to leave Mathilda to her aunt, and flee the country in search of a new life.
If this was not enough to convince you of the type of selfish man Mathilda's father is, he even goes so far as to leave a letter for Mathilda's aunt in which he refers to Mathilda as a disgusting thing he'd rather not name.
We learn how despite the cruelty in these words, young Mathilda still holds on to this letter and cherishes the thought that she has a father. She hopes that one day she may be able to see him. Recounting her childhood, Mathilda tells us how her upbringing was lonesome and isolating, devoid of any parental warmth and affection. Mathilda never considers the type of man her father truly is, but spends her childhood attributing to her absent father all those positive qualities we are taught to value in a parental figure.
Upon her 16th birthday Mathilda's father makes a sudden and unexpected return to Mathilda's life. Mathilda and her father spend hours and hours together and Mathilda comes to refer to her father as her world and best friend. Not a year af
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https://www.thecut.com/2020/11/naked-mary-wollstonecraft-statue-panned-as-needlessly-sexy.html
Caroline Criado Perez: βI honestly feel that actually this representation is insulting to her. I canβt see her feeling happy to be represented by this naked, perfectly formed wet dream of a woman.β
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-54886813
Mary Wollstonecraft dreamed and wrote of a world where women are treated the same as men. There's nothing shocking or dramatic about naked women in art- our bodies have been considered less sacred and deserving of privacy than men since the dawn of humanity. Is this really the way to honour her legacy? She wanted equality- when are statues of famous men ever created this way?
