Smithsonian has a short but good article on how Mary Shelly found inspiration in her travels and the current events of her time. Oh to have enough money to follow in her footsteps.
~ * ~
How Mary Shelley used ideas, events and places to invent her famous monster
From a volcano in Indonesia to a frog in Bologna, a ghoulishly large number of ideas and events wormed into Mary Shelley’s dazzling mind as she imagined the “hideous phantasm of a man” at the throbbing heart of Frankenstein, first published two centuries ago and twitching back to life this month in the new Steampunkish movie Victor Frankenstein. Here are some key connections to Shelley’s cautionary novel.
Read the rest of the article and see the slideshow at Smithsonian.com