About this site and othersThanks to Jerry & Keith & Martin. It has been their encouragement
and advice that has made what you see at www.HailMaryShelley.com
possible.
Thanks, guys! This page was updated December 28, 2004
[Design goals:][Return to Main Page ] [kitchen door]
[Authorship]
[Links:] [why Hail Mary Shelley?]
[Philosophy:] [who visits Hail Mary Shelley!]
[Purpose:] [traffic information]
[How to cite world wide web pages for a bibliography]Authorship:
Except where otherwise indicated, I, Tom Wolfsehr, am
the author of the pages on this site. My interest in Shelley's
Frankenstein began in 1987, as it seemed a likely source of
observations useful to those who had experienced the corrupting
effects of Christian superstition and were interested in the
development of a remedy. The son-of-man metaphor and Percy's
conflict with church authority were among the early clues that the
novel might yield the desired benefits. Concurrent study of Livy,
Cicero, Seneca, Tacitus, Horace, Varro, Philo, & others as well as a others link takes
number of historical works over a period of several years led to the you tolibrary page
conclusion that possible Roman involvement in the production of the
Greek Bible (New Testament) had mistakenly been ignored.
All the while Shelley's Frankenstein, through its remarkable
economy and design, showed itself to be satire of the kind
developed by the ancient Romans for the purpose of promoting
virtue. Study of Godwin's Political Justice and several
biographies, along with Shelley's journals, supported the idea that
Mary Shelley had consciously included seeming errors and
other curious features as a part of a deliberate plan to further
her father's goal of introducing Roman virtue to European society.
While my work has been dismissed by some with credentials
as an "unscholarly reading", it cannot be denied that the
purposefulness of the seeming errors in Frankenstein has
yet to be investigated by those whose scholarship is recognized.
Evidence of motive, means, and opportunity for the unusual
design of the novel have been ignored for generations, a fact
that will eventually embarrass those insitutions which Godwin
rightly identified as being a century or so behind the robust mind.
The pleasure of discovery, particularly that of the difference Spinoza,
like the Ciceromans, saw between faith and credulity, produces a
confidence in human perfectibility, which is the blessing in my life
that exceeds mortal bounds.Purpose:
The purpose of this site is to further develop interest in
and discussion of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, its design,
and the ideas the novel raises. There is much that readers
have to express on this topic that has not received the
attention it deserves. For example, we would like to hear
more about the clues and metaphor that Danny from Vermont
mentions during the National Public Radio Book Club of the
Air discussion. See So Strange a Vehicle in the advertisement
section of To a Candid World.Design goals: (simplicity & utility)
The site is plain and likely will remain so, as we wish
to avoid lengthy load time. Images, such as a picture of the
book, will be included as we are able to produce them. We
are very open to any suggestions that visitors may have about
adding features to this site.
We have placed material that the visitor may wish to print
out on separate pages mainly for two reasons. As much as
possible, we want the site's users to be able to print out just
what they select. The differences in users' systems and settings
prevent us from presenting one page advertisements on a single
page, if the advertisements are all in one location. By the time
the second or third is printing, some systems are breaking up
pages. As we add material, such as reviews, questions, and
comments, we will follow the same plan with one possible
exception. Where it may be useful, we may include duplicate
versions, so that users may choose to scroll, without having to
click links constantly, and yet be able to print a selected section
by using the version intended for that purpose.
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Philosophy:
Following Mary Shelley's plan (because it aims at perfection),
we seek to maintain this site without prejudicing any philosophical
doctrine of whatever kind. However, this does not mean that we
will not be critical of unsupported or contradictory doctrine. We
will follow the policy used in development of such advertisements
as "Ten Commandments". That is, if anyone claims to hold to some
set of moral absolutes and then acts in some way contrary to such,
we will not hesitate to point it out. In this regard, it is also worth
mentioning that differing concepts of virtue and deity can get in the
way unnecessarily. Mary Shelley has provided us with a means to
appreciate that atheists and adherents to some doctrine self identified
as religious make the same errors as readers of Frankenstein. It is
more important that common error leading to common injury be
recognized and remedied than that mere impressions of fundamental
differences be preserved for the sake of the sense of security such
polarity may afford us. In Nimrod's court, Abraham mocks the so-
called religion of his society and appears to be an atheist. Robert
Owen and many others who are identified or identify themselves as
atheists, by asking questions deserving of serious consideration,
aim at and effect the identical change in the world as does Abraham.
[top of page]
Why is the site named Hail Mary Shelley?
Speaking to Victor Frankenstein during the encounter on the sea of ice,
the Creature says, "These bleak skies I hail, for they are kinder to me than
your fellow-beings." Dicaearchus, having some twenty some centuries
earlier calculated that the destruction of human life caused by human beings
exceeds that of natural causes, would hail Mary Shelley for providing a
means to the examination of the causes of human conflict and with it
understanding of how much destruction of human life might be prevented.
Readers, finding the design of Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus
promotes understanding of how moral tendencies run amok, are able to
view possibilities for relief to which they may dedicate themselves and
in which they may enjoy their own part. In this process readers experience
a relationship with an author that is as powerful as it is unexpected.
Recognition of common immortality, nameless and uninstitutionalized, may
be expressed in any number of ways, "Hail Mary Shelley!" among them.
How kindly she reveals our errors.
[top of page]
Links: Soon we will add a separate list of links to
save some scrolling and wear and tear on the mouse pad,
keeping the commentary for those whom it may benefit.
We welcome suggestions of sites to link to, either in a general
way or through entries in the index to the advertisements. We hope
that other sites will choose to link to this one. Courtesy requires that
we inquire of other site managers before linking to them. In some cases,
the notification of the site manager may take some time. As mention
of a site and its url has the same effect as that of actually creating the
link, we will do so in those cases where the author of the text itself
has expressed accord with this policy. Some have told us that we ought
not to ask for the approval of others sites we wish to link to, however,
several times our asking has provided us with information that has been
helpful in the long run. [top of page]
We highly recommend A Frankenstein Study on Watershed as
the most thoughtful we have seen. Arthur Paul Patterson's letter from
Mrs. Saville and the questions and essays indicate appreciation of and
involvement in the mental exercise Mary Shelley mentions in her preface.
The site has been redone and is even more wonderful than before.
Arthur Paul Patterson's observations shine and the new artwork is
beautiful. Here is a link to the page [A Frankenstein Study: Anatomy of a Story ].
From there you may visit other pages of Watershed, or you may use this link to
[Watershed Online] and then look for A Frankenstein Study.
Since its inception, there has been a link on the discussion page to the
meta site, which deals with the seemingly hopeless task of reconciling the
differences between science and religion. The site can be very useful
for a variety of reasons. [to skip the following cautionary sermon and go
right to the link click here] We suggest, however, that the most important
part of the problem meta attempts to resolve is that what usually passes
for religion is not religion at all, but is superstition, the product
of religion that has been allowed to degenerate. As is shown in TCW,
superstition is religion that has lost its most vital component, the
active review and restoration of the vital order. We give the classic
example of St. John at various parts of this web site. St. John prays that
things on earth as they are in heaven and then, while on a brief visit to
heaven, shows that he has somehow become fixed on the opposite goal,
that of making things in heaven as they are on earth. It should matter not in
the least whether you are an atheist, agnostic, deist, Buddhist, Hindu,
Methodist, or anything else that the Greek Bible is so constructed that
it ends with an unrecognized horror. That is the pattern of stories
invented for the edification of people living in the Roman world
two thousand years ago. It should come as no surprise that Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein replicates Roman religious propaganda or Roman
programmatic satire. That is the form developed by the Romans
for the purpose of promoting the virtue necessary to peace among peoples
whose traditions varied widely. Mary and Percy Shelley read much
of the ancient writings and discussed them. In addition to this, Mary's
education developed in her an interest in understanding the confusion
between faith and credulity that comes with the deterioration of any
religious practice. Her opening parable of the ship's master is one of
the many elements of the design she fully expected would be ignored for
a very long time. To fail to recognize the extreme reversal of purpose
in the story of St. John is to invite the confusion that is at the heart of the
greatest of human tragedy. The story works just as Shelley's parable does.
Whoever believes that human society can be improved ought to consider
the possibility that others in times past have found ways to pass on tools
they found to be useful. The Greek Bible comes from a unique period in
human history, one in which many peoples lived more peacefully together
than at any time since. At the same time Romans recognized the disintegration
of the essential core of that which had made it possible for Rome to
inspire the confidence of so many different traditions. Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein is constructed with the purpose of showing us the
common error that leads to unintended consequences, the very pattern
of moral tendency run amok that her father had observed. The great
value of this astonishing design is that it enables us to understand how
the dominant so-called religion in the west has manage to ignore the
desperate predicament of Jesus' favorite disciple for so many generations
and how to assist in the process of redemption. We have noticed that
those scientists who claim to have reconciled their work in science with
Christian doctrine very often smooth the way to depravity for others.
That is, they give the impression that they have examined the material
and found it sound, when that is not the case. These scientists, were
they to bring their integrity to the study of the Greek Bible, would
identify the obvious problem the designer or designers placed in
it so prominently, and they would take an interest in understanding
how the problem developed and discovering and testing a means
to solving it. We have found none who do. They don't mean to, but they
exacerbate an already serious pattern of disregard for the well-being of
others. The so-called faith that results is something Jesus warns against.
Evidence that there is a problem is ignored, and indifference to the very
object central to the prayer is treated as though it were proof of faith.
Such is depravity. Understanding this is necessary to getting anywhere,
and it can be very difficult. Hail Mary Shelley for offering irresistible purpose.
[Meta List on Science and Religion]<<<<<<look here sermon skippers
FRANKENSTEIN : The Dawning and the Passing a Sequel
by Mario Marcel Salas
As a reply to the challenge Mary Shelley offers each of her readers, this
is among the most thoughtful and complex. The reader of this sequel will
find that it is not a mere exercise in evocation of horrors before a backdrop
of predictable atmosphere. The scientific and historical foundations are clearly
given the importance they deserve.
Frankenstein: The Dawning and the Passing A Sequel
An electronic book, FRANKENSTEIN, the Man and the Monster,
advances a view so different from those found in To a Candid World
that we want readers to know about it. Its author, Arthur Belefant, has also
taken an interest in the discrepancies in Shelley's Frankenstein, but argues
that much of Frankenstein was written by Percy. Consequently, his explanation
of the discrepancies involves separate designs, his and hers, which suggests that
the significance we find in the way some parts of the book relate to one another
is mistaken. While we see this approach as discounting some elements that make
Frankenstein useful to discussions of humanity's past present and future, it
represents yet another way that Frankenstein has engaged resources of mind.
There is not as much description of the book as we would like to see at the
publisher's site or author's page, however, here links to them :
[BR&L, publishers] [FRANKENSTEIN, the Man and the Monster]
Essays and book recommendations of interest at this site developed by
Charles D. Hayes
[AUTODIDACTIC PRESS - lifelong learning advocate - Home Page]
An energetic and insightful review of Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
by Keith R. A. DeCandido on a site well worth visiting.
[Albé-Shiloh: Why Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Sucked]
For those who would like to e-mail Keith regarding his review or the site we provide
this link to the site's MAIN PAGE. The e-mail link is at the bottom of that page.
[Albé-Shiloh: Marina Frants & Keith R.A. DeCandido]
Keith informed us of another page at the site which "is a detailed
shredding" of "The Modern Prometheus" episode of HIGHLAND: THE SERIES
"which includes a segment of the story in 1816 with Byron, Mary, Shelley, and
one of the regular HL characters." Here's the link for that file.
[Albé-Shiloh: Review of "The Modern Prometheus" episode of Highlander]
Ester found another file at the site we all agreed should be added.
[Albé-Shiloh: Why Wives Shouldn't Take Husbands' Names] [top of page]
Here are highly recommended links for those interested in learning more
about Godwin, which we have included, along with a link to the text of
Political Justice, in the index to the advertisements of TCW.[WILLIAM GODWIN: His Friends and Contemporaries] by Dana Ward at
Pitzer. Visiting this site is right up there with having a copy of George
Woodcock's William Godwin A biographical study.[Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries - William Godwin].
by Dana Ward at Pitzer. Godwin's views with respect to his readers alone are worth a visit.
William Godwin's belief that the proper purpose of education is to prepare
a generation of saviors of the human race and the process of political justice
necessary to human perfectibility can be seen in the change described in
two links to the Seattle Times Editorials and Opinion archives here.
Same-sex union: It's time to say YES Seattle Times: Search Result
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.co...rtex/display?slug=samsex_&date20000723
And the next generation shall teach Seattle Times: Search Result
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.co...ortex/display?slug=mindy23&date=20000723
When I first picked up Frankenstein, it was with the suspicion, perhaps I
should say hope, that Mary Shelley had created a metaphor useful to those
who were troubled by the destructive habits of "organized religion" and
in particular Christianity. Having studied Roman history and examined
contradictions and discrepancies of Christian claims, it had become
apparent that any reasonable list of explanations for what had happened
during the period in question would include the possibility that the Greek
Bible, usually called the New Testament, was the work of Romans interested
in addressing a host of serious problems by means of religious propaganda.
Much evidence within the Greek Bible and surrounding it supports such a
view and explains why its hero appears to be a monster to some and a savior
to others. Shelley's allusions within the story of a son of man and the metaphor
developed were indeed useful. As importantly, her beginning with the story
of the ship's master, as well as the inclusion of a number of wrongs accomplished
by characters whose moral tendencies got out of hand, is a constant reminder
that it is essential that we not assume venality underlies the various calamities
we see in our history. So it is with Martin Luther, whether we encounter him
in Crabb Robinson's letters or in essays concerning conflicts between Judaism
and Christianity. I am very pleased to see this attitude reflected in the comments
Jim Walker includes with the quotations from Luther's book On the Jews and
their lies. Walker could not be more correct. Here is a link to his page,
which includes an offer for a zip file of the text of Luther's book.
[Martin Luther's dirty little book ] This material is not easy to come by and we are
very grateful to Jim Walker for making it available and doing so with such a
clearly stated purpose. Hail Jim Walker! [top of page]
Who visits Hail Mary Shelley!
Hail Mary Shelley! began being noticed in the last few days of 1999. Since the
beginning of 2000, interest has steadily increased. The average number of visitors,
as of mid March is 500 a week. As we have begun to make changes that make it
easier for visitors to find information of interest to them at the site, the number of
pages the average visitor goes to has also increased. By the end of 2000, the number
of page visits exceeded 70 thousand. The number of page views for the tour was
nearly 43 hundred. For Frankenstein Exercise numbers see Exercise Results
We are delighted to see that people are visiting the site from all over the world.
Although this list is incomplete, you might find it of interest to examine.
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Czech Republic <<<<<<< Tom was delighted to find a copy of Frankenstein when staying in old Prague.
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France <<<<<<<<< Tom thoroughly enjoyed visiting Lyon (how easy-going) and Toulouse in 1998.
Germany
Greece
Hungary <<<<<<< Budapest! What a beautiful city!
India
Indonesia
Ireland <<<<<<<<<<<<< Visited Ireland in 2002. Oh, the Dingle Peninsula!
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Lebanon
Luxembourg
Macau
Mauritius
Malaysia
Mexico
Nepal
Netherlands <<<<<<< Tom remembers a beautiful storm and the "herb".
New Zealand
Niue
Norway
Panama
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain <<<<<< Tom was pulled onto the train, which started suddenly during his cigarette break.
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom <<<<<<<<< Saw Elvis in Lancaster and met a future Superking, David Wright
United States visited Edinburgh where the kindest people live.
Venezuela
There is recent information on traffic posted on sitehist by
Martin Moore. The daily average visits for 2004 was 121,
although the daily average for the second half of 2004 was
143.Search engines used during the month of May, 2000 to visit
Hail Mary Shelley. We have begun to include links to search
engines as a way of assisting those of our visitors who have found
finding search engines difficult.
FAST Search: All the Web, All the Time
AltaVista AltaVista - Search
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Yahoo
Google Google Search: mary shelley + frankenstein
Lycos
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AskJeeves
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Thunderstone [top of page]We would be very pleased to hear from you, add your country
to the list, if we have missed it, or include any comment you might
have about Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, or this site. Check out
the Monster Seneca remembers and let us know what you think.
[Monster of Human Conflict] e-mail address: hailmaryshelley(at symbol)yahoo.com
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