After Gina had mentioned that there is a lack of criticism and exploration on Mary Shelley's works besides Frankenstein, I took it upon myself to find what I could scrounge up for those interested in Mary Shelley's lesser known pieces (and any criticism that surround them).
Starting with what we're, as a class, familiar with, there is Mathilda. As expected, most criticism focuses around the biographical relation between the story and Mathilda's relationship with her father. But, if possible let's avoid those predictable biographical readings and find more intriguing criticism...
Unfortunately, this link on this criticism on Mathilda requires a FREE Trial subscription to read the rest of the article (“Mary Shelley's Mathilda: Melancholy and the Political Economy of Romanticism" by Tilottama Rajan) but it sounds promising. Although it seems to touch on the father-daughter incestuous (we can't get away!) relationship, it also explores the parallels of this novella to Shelley's other novels and the exploration of psychoanalysis circulating around the combination of feminism and Romanticism.
This last article references Mary Shelley's novel Valperga. If you would like to check out this novel, it is magically all available online for your desire. Also, for a quick summary if you would like a taste of the book check out this website. Like most of Shelley's novels, this novel focuses on love and death while keeping to a historical context in 14th century Italy surrounding the love and turmoil of the of the prince of Lucca. I have been able to find an interesting, full-text article on this novel entitled "Mary Shelley and the Therapeutic Value of Language" by William D. Brewer. The article uses a psychoanalytic approach considering the use of voice and language in the Shelley's characters, helps them recoup (temporarily) from their psychological trauma. Without using language to discuss their traumatic situations, the characters fall into depression and agony.
Last, but not least (for this blog anyway) is Shelley's The Last Man. This novel received the worst reviews because the novel was seen as repulsive and the product of a cruel mind. I did find an article on this novel (it does parallel Frankenstein a little, be warned) entitled "Mary Shelley's The Last Man: Monstrous Worlds, Domestic Communities, and Masculine Romantic Ideology" by Julie K. Schuetz (a student, I believe, at the University of Notre Dame, but worth it). Some other interesting essays include this one (Mary Shelley's anti-contagionism: The Last Man as "fatal narrative" by Anne McWhir) that explores how disease is used as metaphor and literally in The Last Man alongside a critique by Shelley of the Romantic ideology behind disease.
**The is also a 2007 movie version of The Last Man and it looks...odd so check out the trailers! or IMDB of course**
So, steer away from Frankenstein and happy Mary Shelley essay hunting!
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