February 1, 1851 - Mary Shelley - Author - Died
Mary Shelley fascinates me. I have to admit I've never managed to get through reading Frankenstein - I think I just lost some GothPoints for that! But while I was in college I went through a phase of being totally obsessed with her life. I read biographies of her, then burst into tears when I found a collection of her letters and diaries - so happy to be able to read them. She read so very many books every week and carefully chronicled what she'd read and what she thought about them. She was always reading, learning, contemplating, and writing. I wanted to be like that, but I watch far more TV than I read books, sigh.
While Mary Shelley certainly didn't create the gothic horror novel genre, many of our favorite horror authors today were influenced in some way by Mary Shelley's writings or the effect the publication of "Frankenstein" had.
Related links:
Mary Shelley Chronology, at UMD.edu
Mary Shelley, at The Literary Gothic
Mary Shelley, at Online-Literature.com
The Mary Shelley Reader, at Amazon.com
The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein, at Amazon.com
The Villa Diodati, at Dark Destinations
Ken Russell's "Gothic", at IMDB
More from Goth Almanac behind the cut..
February 1, 1965 - Brandon Lee - Actor - Born
Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee, starred in the 1990s goth favorite movie "The Crow." Unfortunately he was killed by accident during the filming.
Related links:
The Crow: The Story Behind the Movie, at Amazon.com
February 1, 1988 - Heather O'Rourke - Actress - Died
Heather O'Rourke is best known as "Carol Anne" in the Poltergeist movies. On this day in 1988, she died of a bowel obstruction.
Related links:
Heather O'Rourke Memorial Site
Heather O'Rourke, at Find-A-Grave
Heather O'Rourke, at Wikipedia
Heather O'Rourke Obituary, at NY Times
