Authorship of Frankenstein

Some critics have alleged that Percy had a greater role—even the majority role—in the creation of the novel, though mainstream scholars have generally dismissed these claims as exaggerated or unsubstantiated.

[2] The first edition of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus was published anonymously on January 1, 1818 in London, with only a dedication to Mary Shelley's father, William Godwin.

[4] Mary Shelley was first credited by name in the 1821 French translation of the novel, entitled Frankenstein, ou le Prométhée moderne, which is attributed to "M.me Shelly [sic]".

[7] In a 1990 essay, English professor Anne K. Mellor characterized Rieger's claims as biased and exaggerated, and deemed them "explicitly sexist" for implying that Mary Shelley could not have created the work on her own.

Authors have examined and investigated Percy Bysshe Shelley's scientific knowledge and experimentation, his two Gothic horror novels published in 1810 and 1811, his atheistic worldview, his antipathy to church and state, his 1818 Preface to Frankenstein, and his connection to the secret anti-Catholic organization, the Illuminati.

In letters to William Godwin, Shelley also mentioned his affinity for Paracelsus, Albertus Magnus, and Heinrich Agrippa, "some of the physiological writers of Germany" cited in his 1818 Preface to Frankenstein.

In St. Irvyne, the plot centers around an alchemist, Ginotti, who has a lifelong goal to find the secret of life by the study of "natural philosophy", to attain immortality.

Among these similarities are: tragic action narrated in the first person by an isolated intellectual ("Fleetwood" and "Caleb Williams"); enmity between two powerful characters with antithetical ideologies who pursue each other in a complex and shifting chase ("Mandeville" and Caleb Williams); and the story of a selfish intellectual who trades domestic happiness and marital love for scientific knowledge, success and power ("St. Leon").

[18] Robinson wrote that from the manuscripts it was evident that Mary Shelley was the "creative genius" behind the work, while Percy's contribution was akin to that which a publisher's editor would provide.

In 2008, he grudgingly gave Percy Bysshe Shelley credit for his contributions to the novel, creating a media firestorm and scholarly frenzy and debate.