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                           Monster
                   A d v e r t i s e m e n t
    Frances of South Bend, Indiana points out that Mary
Wollstonecraft’s death, following her giving birth to Mary Shelley,
made Frankenstein’s author “fearful of creating and creations”. To
this Leonard Wolf adds that Mary Shelley’s mother was an abused
and abandoned woman, whose suffering led her to attempt suicide.
Horror. Some man was a monster. It is not surprising that Mr. Wolf
includes this information since, at the beginning of the Book Club of
the Air meeting, he says that the subject of abandonment and the risks
women take when they become involved with men are what Frankenstein
is about. Frances, who is the author of Vindication, a novel based on the
life of Mary Wollstonecraft,  agrees saying that some people, unable to
accept this contradictory aspect in the life of a woman who wrote
about the rights of women, criticized her for including it in her
novel. Host, Ray Suarez, joins in with the observation that William
Godwin “leaves Mary Shelley’s mother in much the way Percy
Shelley leaves his own wife and children for Mary”. So, as an adult,
says Suarez, Mary Shelley was part of a pattern of abandonment
she had experienced as a child.
     Although Ray Suarez’ observation fits well with the theme of
abandonment that Leonard Wolf says is so central to Frankenstein,
Ray’s representation of William Godwin could not be less accurate.
It was Gilbert Imlay who abandoned Mary Shelley’s mother (page
60). Godwin, according to Mary Wollstonecraft’s last words, was
“the kindest and the best man in the world”. Mr. Suarez, confusing
two very different deceased men, combines parts of them into one
person he calls William Godwin. Through the power of radio, Mr.
Suarez’ monster comes to life in the minds of many book club
members, where it will remain, unless those who know better
correct the error before the meeting concludes. Frances affirms
what Ray says, and Leonard Wolf says nothing to dispel the very
false impression that has just been created. Interviews after the
program reveal subsequent prejudice against William Godwin and
his writings. A book club member comments that Mary Shelley had
probably dedicated Frankenstein to her father in an attempt to win
from him the affection that he had never shown her.
     One of the first Book Club members to speak references a
discussion he heard on a National Public Radio program some
fifteen years ago. We might then expect that a strong impression,
based on Mr. Suarez’ misstatement of fact, might last a very long
time and might  propagate in future conversations concerning
Shelley’s Frankenstein.
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             To a Candid World, Copyright 1998,  Thomas Wolfsehr