Decoding famous ghost novel ideas 'Frankenstein'

A group of detective astronomers to discover mysterious 19th-century events that inspired Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to write the famous classic ghost novel 'Frankenstein ' - writing about the story of a monster.

Astronomers from the University of San Marcos delved of Texas state analyzed Shelley's descriptions in different locations to write a story about the district, hoping to solve a long-standing problem. is the author's idea is the truth or she added to tell the story.

The team member Donald Olson, a physics professor at the University, said, 'Shelley gave details of the story-writing idea in the introduction of the first version of' Frankenstein '. She said honestly '.

The researchers meticulously reviewed the date of the events, even to the mansion in Switzerland, where Shelley was at the time, to prove her ideas were real. In it, Shelley's event referring to the moonlight through her room is an important part of this puzzle.

In June 1981, Shelley was 18 years old and attended a party at Villa Diodati, the house overlooking Switzerland's Lake Geneva. In that darkness and storm, Lord Byron, a cousin of hers, raised the idea that each member told a ghost story.

However, Shelley could not write a ghost story or horror immediately. Assuming that, dating back to the 16th or the 17th of June 1,816, it is true that Shelley has fabricated. But in fact Shelley gave his idea of ​​the "Frankenstein" monster story on June 22. And the moonlight she describes in the story is not available on the night at the party a few days earlier.

It is Shelley's detail that describes moonlight as an invaluable clue to researchers.

The writer said, she was unable to bounce the idea until a philosophical discussion came midnight, the hour of 'magic'. Shelley went to bed and woke up from a scary dream about a man who tried to use science to create life and produce a scary character. Shelley describes the nightmare and when she wakes up, she sees the moonlight through her window. From that idea, she started writing "Frankenstein" the next day.

In addition, the researchers also collected evidence such as diary entries, magazines . showing that Shelley's night party event took place around June 10-16, 1816. However, in the debate about the horror story that day, there was no story of Shelley.

Next, the researchers went to the Diodati villa in Switzerland in August 2010 to better recollect the moon in June 1981, through Shelley's window.

Astronomers have measured topographic terrain and are engrossed in research through weather records at that time to reconstruct what happens during the lunar June of that year. Olson and his colleagues figured that the moon was bright, looming up from the ridge and projected directly into Shelley's bedroom window just before 2 am on June 16.

This time frame is consistent with Shelley's magic time reference. And also matching the section of Polidori diary describing "the conversation about the philosophy of life" takes place on the night of June 15.

Moonlight is a key to supporting Shelley's idea. Evidence from this new research is challenging Byron's ghost story that took place around 10 or 13/16, while Shelley's scary dream happened again from 2-3 am on June 16, 1981.

"Mary Shelley wrote about the moonlight shining through her window, and for 15 years, I wondered if we could reinvent that night. We recreated it and there was no reason to doubting Shelley's idea, based on what we find in the main sources and astronomical clues , Olson said.

The findings of the study are published in the November 2011 issue of Sky & Telescope .