What do we know about Mary Shelley? Do we know that she was nineteen years when she wrote Frankenstein novel?

How do we perceive Frankenstein ? Have you read the book or do you remember the film representations as a gothic tale?

Are you aware that the story was written in 1816 ,”a year without summer “?

At the time Shelley wrote most prolifically, the world had been plunged into semi-darkness, crop-failure, famine, and a significant increase in riots, murders, and fatal illnesses by the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Tambora, in Indonesia.

During this time, Shelley wrote: “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.”

As a composer musician, I felt inspired by Shelley’s figure,and this chaotic and apocalyptic environment which appears as the dramatic background ,echoing simultaneously to her own tragical life haunted by deaths and losses .

I could hear the storm and the sounds in this darkness…I could envision Mary’s nightmares and the creature of Frankenstein surging like her double ,an avatar, a manifestation of her tortured and revolted soul ,an alter ego ,waking up, dancing , waving between stillness and passion and calling for Hope .At that time , my father was between Life and Death ,traveling within the unknown territories of liminality .He was locked in his own body and could only see the invisible .All along,The figure and writing of Mary shelley guided me ,like an ancestor I could relate to, and who had lived in shifting landscapes .She was also a projection of my personal story and her journey helped me to process the different phases of dad ‘s experiences , it functions as a ‘mirror’ of sorts, in which my subjectives experiences of liminality may be reflected .
I started my research and sonic venture with” Darkness” (inspired by Byron’s poem )which is a multi layered vocal piece that enhances textures, atmospheres and deep vocal range .

Listen to Darkness performed and created by Muriel Louveau

For each piece, the process is the same : the voice is a spatial component ,expressing different tones like “characters “guiding , inviting the listener to enter , flow with this multidimensional exploration. Words become like sculptural elements inducing movement, choreography and you don’t need your logic mind to analyze this experience .This project is not a direct, detailed storyline but a personal interpretation and meditative process inspired by Shelley in which poetry is merging with sound and dance .

I sense Mary Shelley doesn’t belong to the past and I feel a deep connection with this visionary and contemporary figure. The underlying issues of the novel including the obsession of Science , the search of Immortality and the philosophical and ecological context that shapes the story fundamentally speak about each of us and address the complexities of Human Nature.

My dad came back to Life and survived for another three years. He passed away but his struggle was not lost .

”It has seemed to me — and on such an evening, I have felt it, — that this world, endowed as it is outwardly with endless shapes and influences of beauty and enjoyment, is peopled also in its spiritual life by myriads of loving spirits; from whom, unawares, we catch impressions, which mould our thoughts to good, and thus they guide beneficially the course of events, and minister to the destiny of man. Whether the beloved dead make a portion of this holy company, I dare not guess; but that such exists, I feel.” Mary Shelley