Licentia Historica: History and Romance in Mary Shelley's Valperga.

The consistent presence of historical narratives within Mary Shelley's oeuvre is remarkable: she composed several short stories and two novels set in the Middle Ages, not to mention the biographical profiles of eminent literary figures of the past she penned for Dionysius Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia. Far from suggesting either the author's escapist intentions or her mere adherence to the literary fashion of the time (popularized by Walter Scott), this essay sets out to investigate the crucial role and the responsibility Mary Shelley attached to history. Alert to William Godwin's treatises − in particular, his short essay 'Of History and Romance' − Mary Shelley firmly believed that, through the knowledge of the past, one could develop 'a sagacity that can penetrate into the depths of futurity'. By focusing on Valperga, this article examines the writer's strategic employment of history as an effective instrument to reflect on current-day problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]