Reanimation or reversibility in "Valerius: The Reanimated Roman"

Abstract

This paper is an invited response to an earlier paper by Elena Anastasaki, part of which presented a reading of Mary Shelley s short story "Valerius, the Reanimated Roman." The paper takes issue with aspects of Anastasaki s account of Shelley's story and offers a revised account of its representation of history, identity and Mary Shelley's attitude towards the Imperial and Republican periods of Roman history.