1st Edition

Beyond the Shelley Circle The Clairmont Family and Its Descendants

By Sharon L. Joffe Copyright 2025
306 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

306 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Beyond the Shelley Circle: The Clairmont Family and Its Descendants will interest Shelley-circle researchers, life-writing scholars, and nineteenth-century historians alike. The Clairmont family’s connection to Mary Shelley began in 1801, when her father William Godwin married Mary Jane Vial. The combined family then included the future author of Frankenstein plus her half-sister Fanny, who... Read more

List of Figures

Preface

Acknowledgments

Editorial Standards and Practices

Abbreviations and Identification

Editorial Symbols

Genealogical Table: The Wollstonecraft–Godwin–Shelley–Clairmont Circle

Chapter One: The Inner Circle:  The Wollstonecraft–Godwin–Shelley–Clairmont Circle

Chapter Two: The Outer Circle: The Clairmont Family in the Nineteenth Century

Chapter Three: Ottilia Clairmont’s Journal: The German Transcription

Chapter Four: Ottilia Clairmont’s Journal: The English Translation

Chapter Five: Closing the Circle: Ottilia, Life Writing, and the Clairmont Family after Claire

Bibliography

Appendix A: Additional Documents

Appendix B: Excerpts from Ottilia Clairmont’s Unpublished Journal (c. 18681908)

Appendix C: Walter Clairmont’s Letter to His Father, Wilhelm Clairmont

Biography

Sharon L. Joffe has a Master of Science degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, and MA and PhD degrees in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Joffe is an Associate Professor of English at Lamar University.