Jin-soo Yoo (b. 1985), author
Suhlah Park (b. 1985), illustrator
메리 고드윈 [Mary Godwin]
Seoul, South Korea: Seoul Media Comics, 2005
The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
메리 고드윈 [Mary Godwin]
Transcript below
SEONJOO PARK: Many critics and readers have wondered how Mary Shelley, at such a young age, could write a profound horror novel like Frankenstein, and this manhwa is giving us an answer. Mary Shelley was inspired by a real monster. That’s why she could describe the horror so vividly in her text.
NEIL GAIMAN: Dr. Seonjoo Park is an English professor at Inha University in South Korea whose scholarship has considered Frankenstein’s monster and modernity. We extend our sincere thanks to The Korea Society for connecting us to her.
PARK: Mary Godwin is an example of manhwa, a term for comics in Korea. It was created by two young Korean women and published in 2005. Most of the story tries to follow Mary Shelley’s life faithfully. She was Mary Godwin at that time—she was living with P.B. Shelley. Mary was going through a lot of personal stuff, so she might not have written Frankenstein at all, but a mysterious servant appears out of nowhere.
GAIMAN: The mysterious servant wears a mask, has dangerous motives, and has a lot in common with Frankenstein’s monster.
PARK: He’s an orphan, he’s lonely, he’s not loved by anyone, he kills several people around Mary Shelley just like the monster in Frankenstein kills people around Victor Frankenstein. The monster kills because he wants to make revenge; Jean, the servant, kills because he wants Mary Shelley to keep writing the novel.
GAIMAN: Though set in Western Europe in the early 19th century, Mary Godwin tells us much about the very different place and time in which the manhwa was created.
PARK: In Korea, in the 1990s and early 2000s, women became more conscious of gender issues. They didn’t take it for granted that they’re supposed to be a gentle wife and good mother anymore. Mary Godwin shows that something has changed in Korean society at that time. In this manhwa, Mary Godwin had a baby, but she’s not a particularly devoted mom. She’s a talented female writer and she exists out of the institution of marriage. So this text is seriously reflecting on the gap between “a woman” and “a female writer” in Korean society at around the early 21st century. And how monstrous that that gap looks to the society.
End of Transcript
Among Dr. Park’s recent scholarly articles is “Democracy and Plague in Mary Shelley's ‘The Last Man’” (2021). The Korea Society is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea.
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