Spooky Season with Mary Shelley and Other Musings
Hello! It’s been a minute… if a minute were the equivalent of three years, whoops! I’ve thought about writing on this abandoned blog so many times, but I never felt as though I had anything particularly important to say. And then I developed this strange phobia of writing after graduation which is a wholeee other thing I won’t get into at the moment. Anyways, we are SO back!
For those of you who don’t know, I’m currently in London working towards my M.A. in Publishing at City, University of London. I love my program and I find myself inspired by my brilliant classmates every single day. They are so intelligent and creative, and of course, extremely passionate about books. I enjoy following their work so much, whether it be a bookstagram, Substack, YouTube, etc. This, paired with the realization that writing doesn’t have to be sooo serious inspired me to start putting myself out there ~ online ~ again. So here I am, attempting to share what I’m reading in the format that feels most comfortable to me. I also made my own bookstagram which I don’t totally know what to do with yet, but will still (sort of) shamelessly plug here: @haydenlovesreading.
The entirety of this blog post was going to be a review of Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein but if I’m being so honest, I didn’t like it. Maybe my frontal lobe just hasn’t developed yet, but I realized that I prefer spending spooky season reading a fun murder mystery than a gothic thriller about revenge and the disturbing nature of humanity. While I so badly want to be one of those people that loves every single classic they read and could write an entire dissertation questioning the tension between creation and ambition, I am simply not that serious of a person. All that being said, there are a few things I did enjoy while reading this book:
I got this book from my favorite second-hand bookstore in Florida, Chamblin’s. One of the best things about used books is finding old annotations from former readers, and this book happened to be full of sticky notes with very intense questions and comments such as:
Does greater knowledge beset greater suffering and anguish?
The monster never experienced childhood love or affection.
Religion & wealth: a human discomfort resulting in misjudgement?
The idea that a (creator) higher power nurtured the shaping of man is noticed by the monster who is lacking guidance and was all alone. Thus, the assumption of his creator is Satan.
One of these questions in particular stood out to me and made me pretty depressed to think about!
On the topic of greater knowledge and its relationship to pain and anguish… is it better to just remain naïve to the cruelties of the world and never strive for higher knowledge? Is it selfish to try and maintain a childlike innocence when in today’s world, information is more accessible than ever before? With the election just around the corner (terrifying), I thought a lot about how not only is information so easily accessible, but so is disinformation. How do we make sure that factually correct information prevails over disinformation and empowers voters to make educated decisions? Whose responsibility is it to filter out disinformation: the consumer’s or the media’s?
If I keep going, I’ll lose the plot of this blog post entirely, but do let me know if any of these prompts stood out to you. I’d love a little chat on the side * insert cartwheel emoji *
2. I was especially excited to read Frankenstein here because I happen to reside on the very same green where Mary Shelley’s mother lived and worked, Mary Wollstonecraft. A brief history refresher: Mary Wollstonecraft is best known for writing A Vindication of The Rights of Women—one of the earliest works advocating for women’s rights—and also established a boarding school for girls in Newington Green (my neighborhood!) when she was just 25 years old. I then proceeded to do a deep dive on the area, and learned that Newington Green was a real hot spot for nonconformist activity during the 17th and 18th centuries, attracting many influential thinkers and social justice advocates. You can find a statue commemorating Mary Wollstonecraft right in the center of the green:
3. While I didn’t visit Hampstead Heath because of Frankenstein, it was the perfect backdrop for a classic, autumnal day in London and provided plenty of gothic, eerie energy. The trip really didn’t have anything to do with the book other than the fact that I got to take pictures for my Instagram which I will also share here:
That being said, I am now completely obsessed with the area and plan on returning many times throughout the seasons (and hopefully for a swim eventually).
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for indulging my ramblings. This reminded me that writing is actually fun and encouraged me to keep up with this blog in the future :) Anyways, whoever is still here, I hope you have a very spooky Halloween. I saw a mouse in my kitchen the other day (no, I will NOT shut up about it), which was enough scariness to last me the whole Halloween season.
Until next time!
Hayden