Something that I've discovered as I read my selections for Carl's RIP Challenge is that I greatly enjoy Gothic Literature. When I am caught up with my reading piles, I plan on reading more Gothic novels. This past weekend I decided it was time to finish reading the last two stories in the slim collection that Hesperus Press has published called Transformation by Mary Shelley. I read the title story last month. I'm only giving brief story descriptions, so there should be no problems with plot spoilers this time around.
"The Mortal Immortal", the second story in the collection, is a suspenseful tale of (as the title implies) immortality. The story begins on July 16, 1833, the 323rd anniversary of the birth of the story's narrator, Winzy. When he was a young man he was a student and assistant of the alchemist, Cornelius Agrippa. Although his friends warned him off helping Agrippa, who dabbled in the dark arts, Winzy was attracted by the promise of money. He wanted nothing more than to marry his childhood sweetheart, the lovely Bertha. Her situation was such that he could never hope to gain approval from her adoptive parents as he was poor.
In his despair he drinks part of a potion, before it slips out of his hand and shatters on the floor, that Agrippa has spent years formulating and concocting, thinking it was made for the drinker to fall out of love. If anything, the reverse occurs. He is more in love with Bertha than ever, but in the end she forsakes her fortune and agrees to marry him even if it means living in poverty. The years pass happily for Winzy and Bertha, until it becomes apparent that while Bertha is steadily aging, Winzy is as youthful as the day they were married.
The last story, "The Evil Eye", does not have a supernatural theme to it, but it relies more on folklore and superstitious beliefs. It's a rather complicated story and has a very exotic setting, which is very unlike her other stories. According to the footnotes the story was influenced by several contemporary examples of Eastern narratives including in part Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. The narrative is almost too complicated to describe, but the story revolves around a particular friendship of two men, which in Greece is called 'probatimo'. It's a special vow (even celebrated in the church with a ceremony), where two people of the same sex will swear a sort of alliance/friendship.
So we have two friends, Katusthuis Ziani and Dmitri. Dmitri (of the Evil Eye) was once a happily married man when his wife was murdered and his daughter was stolen. After years of searching for her with no success, he turns to a life of reckless abandon living as a bandit. When he discovers that his younger, half brother is due to inherit everything after the death of his parents, he decides to take revenge on him and turns to his sworn friend, Ziani, for help. The story starts to parallel itself as Dmitri will rob his brother of his only son, much like what he himself has endured when he lost his family. Shelley throws in an interesting twist at the end as a chase ensues to retrieve the stolen child.
I've read that Mary Shelley wrote short stories to help make ends meet. She admitted that she would just dash them off, so they may not get the same attention critically as her novels do. She seems to have used her stories, however, to work out themes and characterizations which would appear more fully realized in her later novels. I've only read Frankenstein and now these three stories by Shelley, but there does seem to be similarities between her stories and novel. One reviewer I read also notes how certain events in Shelley's very colorful life seem show up in various forms in her narratives. It's always an interesting question--wondering how much an author draws from her own life and merges it into fiction. Mary Shelley was indeed an interesting woman and writer and is an author I'd like to read more of and about.