William Godwin’s memoir of his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft, marks a transition in Godwin’s philosophical development from extreme rationalism to the recognition of the moral importance of feeling and sympathy which was to energize his later writings. Memoirs also belongs to a tradition of biographical writing that sought to transform the consciousness of readers by using individual history as an agent of historical change. Written during the weeks following Wollstonecraft’s early death, Memoirs provides an interpretation of the relations between Wollstonecraft’s writings and her personal history, a candid account of her various relationships, and a vindication of her egalitarian intimacy with Godwin. This modern, scholarly edition, geared for student use, includes a wide range of primary sources, together with excerpts from Godwin’s other writings and from biographical models.

Writing in an age when the call for the rights of man had brought revolution to America and France, Mary Wollstonecraft produced her own declaration of female independence in 1792. Passionate and forthright, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman attacked the prevailing view of docile, decorative femininity and instead laid out the principles of emancipation: an equal education for girls and boys, an end to prejudice, and the call for women to become defined by their profession, not their partner. Mary Wollstonecrafts work was received with a mixture of admiration and outrageWalpole called her a hyena in petticoatsyet it established her as the mother of modern feminism.

Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) is the founding text of modern feminism. In this sourcebook, Adriana Craciun provides the ideal starting point for students new to Wollstonecraft's revolutionary work, providing carefully focused introductory materials combined with reprinted and newly annotated source documents. Key materials in this sourcebook include: *letters by Wollstonecraft and important contemporary documents *nineteenth-century responses to the text *twentieth-century critical readings *annotated key passages, cross-referenced to critical texts *suggestions for further reading. This is the essential guide to a key literary and political text.

Pioneers in life writing, Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein (1818 ), are now widely regarded as two of the leading writers of the Romantic period. They are both responsible for opening up new possibilities for women in genres traditionally dominated by men. This volume brings together essays on Wollstonecraft’s and Shelley’s life writing by some of the most prominent scholars in Canada, Australia, and the United States. It also includes a full-length play by award-winning Canadian playwright Rose Scollard. Together, the essays and the play explore the connections between mother and daughter, between writing and life, and between criticism and creation. They offer a new understanding of two important writers, of a literary period, and of emergent modes of life writing. Essayists include Judith Barbour, Betty T. Bennett, Anne K. Mellor, Charles E. Robinson, Eleanor Ty, and Lisa Vargo. Among the works discussed are Wollstonecraft’s Vindication, Letters from Norway, and Maria; or, The Wrongs of Woman; William Godwin’s Memoirs of Wollstonecraft; and Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Last Man, Ladore, and Rambles in Germany and Italy.

Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is the biography, by William Godwin, of his wife Mary Wollstonecraft, author of the essay A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Defense of Women's Rights, 1792).William Godwin considered it his duty to review and publish the unfinished works left by Mary Wollestonecraft after his death in 1797. A week after his funeral, he began working on this project, and began writing memoirs about his life. To prepare to write this biography, he re-read all his works, spoke with his friends, and finally classified and numbered his correspondence. After four months of hard work, he had completed both projects. According to William St Clair, who wrote a biography of Godwin and Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft was so famous at the time that William Godwin did not have to mention his name in the title of the biography ...

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) made a pioneering and durably influential argument for women’s equality. Emerging from the turbulent decade of the French Revolution, her vindication delivered a systematic critique of the treatment of women across time and place. Drawing on extensive experience teaching and writing about Wollstonecraft, Susan J. Wolfson offers new insight into how Wollstonecraft’s particular methods, style, and energy make this case for her readers. Wolfson places this polemic in its political and literary contexts and in relation to Wollstonecraft’s other works about political rights. She considers how Wollstonecraft balanced advocacy for the seemingly universal ideals of the French Revolution with analysis of the gendered exclusions in the vaunted rights of “man.” This book pays particular attention to Wollstonecraft’s literary craft, highlighting the force of her close reading. Wollstonecraft pinpointed the role of gendered phrases and concepts in political discourse, both in her opponents’ metaphors and received ideas and in her own efforts to craft a new political language with which to defend women’s capabilities. Wolfson reveals her as a pioneer in decoupling sex from gender and shows how she provided an enduring model of how to be a female intellectual. Sharing the excitement of reading Wollstonecraft’s work with care for her literary as well as political genius, this book provides fresh perspectives both for first-time readers and those seeking a nuanced appreciation of her achievements.