Haunted by a Monster: Mary Shelley’s Translation of Apuleius and “Frankenstein”

Abstract

Focusing on Mary Shelley’s 1817 translation of the tale of Cupid and Psyche as told by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses, this article explores how Mary’s rendering is seemingly interspersed with echoes of her recently completed masterpiece, Frankenstein. This comparative analysis is new and reveals unexpected, close correspondences and similarities between the two texts.