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A Short Residence in Sweden / Memoirs of the Author of 'The Rights of Woman'
In these two closely linked works - a travel book and a biography of its author - we witness a moving encounter between two of the most daring and original minds of the late eighteenth century:
A Short Residence in Sweden is the record of Wollstonecraft's last journey in search of happiness, into the remote and beautiful backwoods of Scandinavia. The quest for a lost treasure ship, the pain of a wrecked love affair, memories of the French Revolution, and the longing for some Golden Age, all shape this vivid narrative, which Richard Holmes argues is one of the neglected masterpieces of early English Romanticism.
Memoirs is Godwin's own account of Wollstonecraft's life, written with passionate intensity a few weeks after her tragic death. Casting aside literary convention, Godwin creates an intimate portrait of his wife, startling in its candour and psychological truth. Received with outrage by friends and critics alike, and virtually suppressed for a century, it can now be recognized as one of the landmarks in the development of modern biography.
A Short Residence in Sweden is the record of Wollstonecraft's last journey in search of happiness, into the remote and beautiful backwoods of Scandinavia. The quest for a lost treasure ship, the pain of a wrecked love affair, memories of the French Revolution, and the longing for some Golden Age, all shape this vivid narrative, which Richard Holmes argues is one of the neglected masterpieces of early English Romanticism.
Memoirs is Godwin's own account of Wollstonecraft's life, written with passionate intensity a few weeks after her tragic death. Casting aside literary convention, Godwin creates an intimate portrait of his wife, startling in its candour and psychological truth. Received with outrage by friends and critics alike, and virtually suppressed for a century, it can now be recognized as one of the landmarks in the development of modern biography.
320 pages, Paperback
Published April 28, 1987
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About the author
Mary Wollstonecraft
450 books961 followersMary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth century British writer, philosopher, and feminist. Among the general public and specifically among feminists, Wollstonecraft's life has received much more attention than her writing because of her unconventional, and often tumultuous, personal relationships. After two ill-fated affairs, with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay, Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the forefathers of the anarchist movement; they had one daughter, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft died at the age of thirty-eight due to complications from childbirth, leaving behind several unfinished manuscripts.
During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.
After Wollstonecraft's death, Godwin published a Memoir (1798) of her life, revealing her unorthodox lifestyle, which inadvertently destroyed her reputation for a century. However, with the emergence of the feminist movement at the turn of the twentieth century, Wollstonecraft's advocacy of women's equality and critiques of conventional femininity became increasingly important. Today Wollstonecraft is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers, and feminists often cite both her life and work as important influences.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia.org
During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.
After Wollstonecraft's death, Godwin published a Memoir (1798) of her life, revealing her unorthodox lifestyle, which inadvertently destroyed her reputation for a century. However, with the emergence of the feminist movement at the turn of the twentieth century, Wollstonecraft's advocacy of women's equality and critiques of conventional femininity became increasingly important. Today Wollstonecraft is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers, and feminists often cite both her life and work as important influences.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia.org
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September 19, 2019I probably bought this book because of its cover, not the only time I've bought a book purely on the strength of Caspar David Friedrich.
A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway & Denmark is written in the form of twenty-five letters, possibly originally composed as a travel journal, in places it seems that they are addressed to Gilbert Imlay, who had been more or less her husband, and published in 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft's intention was simply to endeavour to give a just view of the present state of the countries I have passed through, as far as I could obtain information during so short a residence (p62).
Wollstonecraft was not the ideal traveller. She spoke none of the languages of the countries she travels through. She dislikes the duvets , the meal times , the drinking , the stoves and the smoking. She disapproves of the sugar and spice in the diet finding this to be the cause of the women's bad teeth . Fortunately she wasn't a traveller, she was a woman on a mission.
Gilbert Imlay, her common-law husband and father of her first child, aspired to a "mushroom fortune" of his own. Taking advantage of the ongoing British blockade of France, with a partner he invested in a blockade runner registered under a false name, filled her with cargo and found a young Norwegian captain for her. The gentleman absconded at the earliest opportunity with ship and cargo. This wasn't a matter that Imlay could pursue in the British or French courts, however the Danes were prepared to look into it. Wollstonecraft was accredited by Imlay as his representative and travelled with a maid and her toddler, with no language skills to negotiate on his behalf. At the same time their romantic relationship was, at least as far he was concerned, over and she had shortly before attempted suicide .
Unmentioned but very much present in the background of her account of this journey into Norway are her visits to judges and influential men and the Captain of the ship who she follows to his home town, Risør in south-eastern Norway dramatically described after a night rowing round skerries and crags to reach the place:
Flittering across the foreground of her letters however is her pain at the end of the relationship with Imlay and her bitterness towards commercial undertakings and greed which she sees as the cause of the breakdown between the two of them.
Above all for me these letters arise out of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, well mixed with Wollstonecraft's passionate engagement, presented in delightful though wordy late eighteenth century English prose. Reading her meditations on future ages and her vision of bleak and rocky landscapes I was struck that Wollstonecraft was Mary Shelley's mother in more than simply a physical sense:
Although then again having a vision of the character of the landscape was very much in the Zeitgeist and not unique to the two of them.
As an observer Wollstonecraft was alive to the manners of the places she travelled through and the characteristics of men and women as well as the cattle winding their weary way to cosy cottages for milking. For all her strictures about Scandinavian teeth, she is struck by the kindness of the people she meets towards her and her enthusiasm for beauty and liveliness is contagious.
There may be many grounds on which to criticise her account, based on a brief visit to a limited number of places, but the power of the book is that "if ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book" as William Godwin wrote in his Memoirs of the Author of 'The Rights of Woman'(p249).
These memoirs were written shortly after Wollstonecraft's death and are striking for there careful, even analytical, tone and sense of loss. Godwin was roundly criticised for these memoirs because he scandalously mentioned Wollstonescraft's lack of belief in hell and made clear that she had sexual relationships outside of the state of matrimony. This edition has footnotes and several appendixes for the amendments that Godwin made to the second edition in which he tried to soft pedal and make Wollstonecraft's life approximate the norms of Georgian Britain's polite society. Imagine Jane Austen confronted with a woman of similar social background who attempted to earn a living through running schools and translation, provided for her siblings setting them up as best she could, assisted her father through the morass of his financial affairs until his death, was in France during the revolution and was acquainted with the Girondist leadership, had an illegitimate child and so on... Public outcry over the memoir comes as no surprise.
In Godwin's account there are two important influences on Wollstonecraft's life. Her childhood, the girl was the mother of the woman, and the French Revolution which cracked apart her mind forg'd manacles, opening up everything to question. For a person as decisive and sure of her own opinion as she was allowed the possibility of attempting to live as she wanted. However he is also open about how important an influence Wollstonecraft was on his own life and development. As a whole the brief life is as tender a memorial to a lost love as I can imagine. The distinct phraseology of Georgian literary English in its own way only adds to the sadness underlying the careful sentences.
This volume is nicely presented with a thorough introduction, notes and a map.
A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway & Denmark is written in the form of twenty-five letters, possibly originally composed as a travel journal, in places it seems that they are addressed to Gilbert Imlay, who had been more or less her husband, and published in 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft's intention was simply to endeavour to give a just view of the present state of the countries I have passed through, as far as I could obtain information during so short a residence (p62).
Wollstonecraft was not the ideal traveller. She spoke none of the languages of the countries she travels through. She dislikes the duvets , the meal times , the drinking , the stoves and the smoking. She disapproves of the sugar and spice in the diet finding this to be the cause of the women's bad teeth . Fortunately she wasn't a traveller, she was a woman on a mission.
Gilbert Imlay, her common-law husband and father of her first child, aspired to a "mushroom fortune" of his own. Taking advantage of the ongoing British blockade of France, with a partner he invested in a blockade runner registered under a false name, filled her with cargo and found a young Norwegian captain for her. The gentleman absconded at the earliest opportunity with ship and cargo. This wasn't a matter that Imlay could pursue in the British or French courts, however the Danes were prepared to look into it. Wollstonecraft was accredited by Imlay as his representative and travelled with a maid and her toddler, with no language skills to negotiate on his behalf. At the same time their romantic relationship was, at least as far he was concerned, over and she had shortly before attempted suicide .
Unmentioned but very much present in the background of her account of this journey into Norway are her visits to judges and influential men and the Captain of the ship who she follows to his home town, Risør in south-eastern Norway dramatically described after a night rowing round skerries and crags to reach the place:
We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, before we saw about two hundred houses crowded together, under a very high rock - still higher appearing above. Talk not of bastilles! To be born here, was to be bastilled by nature - shut out from all that opens the understanding, or enlarges the heart. Huddled one behind another, not more than a quarter of the dwellings even had a prospect of the sea. A few planks formed passages from house to house, which you must often scale, mounting steps like a ladder, to enter(p131)
Flittering across the foreground of her letters however is her pain at the end of the relationship with Imlay and her bitterness towards commercial undertakings and greed which she sees as the cause of the breakdown between the two of them.
Above all for me these letters arise out of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, well mixed with Wollstonecraft's passionate engagement, presented in delightful though wordy late eighteenth century English prose. Reading her meditations on future ages and her vision of bleak and rocky landscapes I was struck that Wollstonecraft was Mary Shelley's mother in more than simply a physical sense:
The view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded me a continual subject for meditation. I anticipated the future improvement of the world, & observed how much man had still to do, to obtain of the earth all it could yield. I even carried my speculations so far as to advance a million or two of years to the moment when the earth would perhaps be so perfectly cultivated, and so completely peopled, as to render it necessary to inhabit every spot; yes; these bleak shores. Imagination went still farther, and pictured the state of man when the earth would no longer support him. Where was he to fly to from universal famine? Do not smile: I really became distressed for these fellow creatures, yet unborn. The images fastened on me, and the world appeared a vast prison(p130)
Although then again having a vision of the character of the landscape was very much in the Zeitgeist and not unique to the two of them.
As an observer Wollstonecraft was alive to the manners of the places she travelled through and the characteristics of men and women as well as the cattle winding their weary way to cosy cottages for milking. For all her strictures about Scandinavian teeth, she is struck by the kindness of the people she meets towards her and her enthusiasm for beauty and liveliness is contagious.
There may be many grounds on which to criticise her account, based on a brief visit to a limited number of places, but the power of the book is that "if ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book" as William Godwin wrote in his Memoirs of the Author of 'The Rights of Woman'(p249).
These memoirs were written shortly after Wollstonecraft's death and are striking for there careful, even analytical, tone and sense of loss. Godwin was roundly criticised for these memoirs because he scandalously mentioned Wollstonescraft's lack of belief in hell and made clear that she had sexual relationships outside of the state of matrimony. This edition has footnotes and several appendixes for the amendments that Godwin made to the second edition in which he tried to soft pedal and make Wollstonecraft's life approximate the norms of Georgian Britain's polite society. Imagine Jane Austen confronted with a woman of similar social background who attempted to earn a living through running schools and translation, provided for her siblings setting them up as best she could, assisted her father through the morass of his financial affairs until his death, was in France during the revolution and was acquainted with the Girondist leadership, had an illegitimate child and so on... Public outcry over the memoir comes as no surprise.
In Godwin's account there are two important influences on Wollstonecraft's life. Her childhood, the girl was the mother of the woman, and the French Revolution which cracked apart her mind forg'd manacles, opening up everything to question. For a person as decisive and sure of her own opinion as she was allowed the possibility of attempting to live as she wanted. However he is also open about how important an influence Wollstonecraft was on his own life and development. As a whole the brief life is as tender a memorial to a lost love as I can imagine. The distinct phraseology of Georgian literary English in its own way only adds to the sadness underlying the careful sentences.
This volume is nicely presented with a thorough introduction, notes and a map.
November 25, 2012
In this volume are two separate works: Mary Wollstonecraft's A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark and William Godwin's Memoirs of the Author of ‘The Rights of Woman’. I would rank the first of these two works with five stars, as Mary Wollstonecraft not only has a lively style but also a heart free of cant:
The biography written by William Godwin, her last love, is colored by his wife's recent death in childbirth in 1797. It is a melancholy work in its own right and was much criticized as being inappropriate by critics who were aghast at things that were simply not discussed in polite company. Godwin might not have been polite company, but he had a loving heart and appreciated his Mary.
You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme affection of my nature—But such is the temperance of my soul—It is not the vivacity of youth, gthe hey-day of existence. For years have I endeavoured to calm an impetuous tide—labouring to make my feelings take an orderly course.—It was striving against the stream. I must love and admire with warmth, or I sink into sadness.The long severing of her relationship with her husband Gilbert Imlay lends a darkening aspect to her descriptions of the Scandinavian countries she visited, originally at the behest of Imlay. She continues: "At present black melancholy hovers round my footsteps; and sorrow sheds a mildew over all my future prospects, which hope no longer gilds."
The biography written by William Godwin, her last love, is colored by his wife's recent death in childbirth in 1797. It is a melancholy work in its own right and was much criticized as being inappropriate by critics who were aghast at things that were simply not discussed in polite company. Godwin might not have been polite company, but he had a loving heart and appreciated his Mary.
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December 23, 2015Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
February 19, 2023
I’ve read enough Wollstonecraft now to say that she is one of my favourite authors. She isn’t without her flaws of course, but the breadth of her talents range from philosophical and political works, to novels, and of course, to travel letters like these.
But just as interesting and inspiring as her writing is, I find the character of Mary and her life just as much so. Godwin’s memoirs are a large reason for this, and I must say, Holmes’ introduction was a great supplement. Through all three pieces, we’re given a sensitive account of the challenges Mary faced throughout her life: her struggles with depression and suicide, her loss of friends through death, the cruelty of profiteering men, and her ultimate passing due to illness after the birth of her daughter, later to be Mary Shelley.
I felt the anguish that William felt when he cried, “This light was lent to me for a very short period, and is now extinguished forever!” (273). If only she were allowed to shine longer.
However, the achievements and positive impacts of Mary’s life cannot be overstated. An ardent feminist, she stood on equal footing to and publicly challenged the likes of Burke and Rousseau. She was admired by Thomas Paine and, while I wouldn’t say she was a socialist, certainly came to resent class inequality and the soullessness of profit-motive, as is evident in her travel letters.
“A man ceases to love humanity, and then individuals, as he advances in the chase after wealth; as one clashes with his interest, the other with his pleasures: to business, as it is termed, everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed; and all the endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become empty names” (193).
I believe Mary was perhaps a casualty of the heteronormative bias in historical scholarship that Kit Heyam and numerous other queer history scholars criticize. Her sexuality is portrayed, by herself and her biographers, as queer at the least, and this is best embodied in her intimate relationship with Fanny. Yet, this aspect of her life is frequently glossed over (seemingly for avoiding speculation). Regardless of how Mary would have described herself, and it isn’t for us to say, her radically non-heteronormative political and romantic life deserves recognition.
I’ve never felt so closely connected and familiar with a classic writer than I do with Mary Wollstonecraft, thanks to the care that all of the authors of this publication take in telling her story. A truly empowering woman.
But just as interesting and inspiring as her writing is, I find the character of Mary and her life just as much so. Godwin’s memoirs are a large reason for this, and I must say, Holmes’ introduction was a great supplement. Through all three pieces, we’re given a sensitive account of the challenges Mary faced throughout her life: her struggles with depression and suicide, her loss of friends through death, the cruelty of profiteering men, and her ultimate passing due to illness after the birth of her daughter, later to be Mary Shelley.
I felt the anguish that William felt when he cried, “This light was lent to me for a very short period, and is now extinguished forever!” (273). If only she were allowed to shine longer.
However, the achievements and positive impacts of Mary’s life cannot be overstated. An ardent feminist, she stood on equal footing to and publicly challenged the likes of Burke and Rousseau. She was admired by Thomas Paine and, while I wouldn’t say she was a socialist, certainly came to resent class inequality and the soullessness of profit-motive, as is evident in her travel letters.
“A man ceases to love humanity, and then individuals, as he advances in the chase after wealth; as one clashes with his interest, the other with his pleasures: to business, as it is termed, everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed; and all the endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become empty names” (193).
I believe Mary was perhaps a casualty of the heteronormative bias in historical scholarship that Kit Heyam and numerous other queer history scholars criticize. Her sexuality is portrayed, by herself and her biographers, as queer at the least, and this is best embodied in her intimate relationship with Fanny. Yet, this aspect of her life is frequently glossed over (seemingly for avoiding speculation). Regardless of how Mary would have described herself, and it isn’t for us to say, her radically non-heteronormative political and romantic life deserves recognition.
I’ve never felt so closely connected and familiar with a classic writer than I do with Mary Wollstonecraft, thanks to the care that all of the authors of this publication take in telling her story. A truly empowering woman.
January 14, 2012
It's no surprise that Mary Shelley came out with a novel like Frankenstein at the age of 18 when you consider her literary heritage. Her mother was no slouch, and her diaries and letters -intended for the errant father of Mary Shelley's half sister, Gilbert Imlay- are infused with a concern for moral and social principles and concerns (one letter details the execution of a felon and the locals' rummaging of the aftermath), but some of the best tracts are when Wollstonecraft sits down to survey the land before her and begins to muse on her soul: “It appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised dust - ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or the spark goes out, which kept it together. Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable - and life is more than a dream.”
July 9, 2009
Wollstonecraft is generally little-known or known for her "Vindications," but her letters are absolutely amazing. Traveling abroad to conduct business for her unfaithful husband, Wollstonecraft is dealing with an infant, poor travel conditions, and post-partem depression. Her writing keeps her from suicide, and it is absolutely brilliant!
February 13, 2017
Read for Frankenstein's Forbearers!!!
Long and dramatic descriptions of scenery and the people from the North.
In the back are the personal letters she was writing at the time to The Worst Man Ever and I read two of them and I got very sad. Very sad.
Long and dramatic descriptions of scenery and the people from the North.
In the back are the personal letters she was writing at the time to The Worst Man Ever and I read two of them and I got very sad. Very sad.
February 14, 2011
Only reading the first half, Mary Wollstonecraft's A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
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December 26, 2017Mi sono decisa a leggere questo libro solo grazie alla Autumn readathon di MercysBookishMusings. Il libro, infatti, calzava a pennello con uno dei suggerimenti elencati, un libro non fiction sui viaggi e/o ambientato in posti freddi. Un'ottima scusa per leggere un libro che era sui miei scaffali dai tempi dell'università.
Il libro si legge bene anche se il ritmo è molto lento, ciò è dovuto soprattutto allo stile in voga all'epoca. Purtroppo, però, non mi ha colpita più di tanto, nonostante ammiri Mary Wollstonecraft come donna e come intellettuale. Solo una cosa ho trovato degna di nota: anche la Wollstonecraft, sebbene di mentalità liberale, grande ammiratrice della Rivoluzione Francese (o per lo meno dei suoi principi) e forte sostenitrice dei diritti delle donne, cade spesso nel vizio della sua epoca di giudicare i poveri e meno fortunati come dei viziosi e immorali. In linea teorica scrive, sì, che la società è ingiusta e che si dovrebbero aiutare le classi meno agiate ad emanciparsi; poi, però, giudica con disprezzo i membri di quelle stesse classi. Segno che i pregiudizi sono duri a morire anche tra i più liberali.
Il libro si legge bene anche se il ritmo è molto lento, ciò è dovuto soprattutto allo stile in voga all'epoca. Purtroppo, però, non mi ha colpita più di tanto, nonostante ammiri Mary Wollstonecraft come donna e come intellettuale. Solo una cosa ho trovato degna di nota: anche la Wollstonecraft, sebbene di mentalità liberale, grande ammiratrice della Rivoluzione Francese (o per lo meno dei suoi principi) e forte sostenitrice dei diritti delle donne, cade spesso nel vizio della sua epoca di giudicare i poveri e meno fortunati come dei viziosi e immorali. In linea teorica scrive, sì, che la società è ingiusta e che si dovrebbero aiutare le classi meno agiate ad emanciparsi; poi, però, giudica con disprezzo i membri di quelle stesse classi. Segno che i pregiudizi sono duri a morire anche tra i più liberali.
March 17, 2013
Read "Memoirs of the Author of The Rights of Woman" for EN4363: Romantic Writing and Women.
This short memoir, written by Mary Wollstonecraft's husband, was surprisingly touching. Mary and William weren't together for very long, and perhaps this accounts for William's desire to present Mary as pretty much flawless. Despite this, he openly writes about Mary's love affairs in a mostly unbiased manner. I can see why a lot of people would have objected to his presentation of Mary's life--severely lacking in judgement for her behaviour on the part of the author--but ultimately I found it to be a very sympathetic depiction of her life. She truly had a lot of struggles to overcome and I could see how her life experiences impacted her writing--sometimes events were lifted straight out of her life. This is a really hard text to rate. I suppose the only flaws would be that sometimes William's philosophising was a little tangential, and I would have liked to have learned more about Mary as a mother, since this was obviously something that was very important to her. 4*
This short memoir, written by Mary Wollstonecraft's husband, was surprisingly touching. Mary and William weren't together for very long, and perhaps this accounts for William's desire to present Mary as pretty much flawless. Despite this, he openly writes about Mary's love affairs in a mostly unbiased manner. I can see why a lot of people would have objected to his presentation of Mary's life--severely lacking in judgement for her behaviour on the part of the author--but ultimately I found it to be a very sympathetic depiction of her life. She truly had a lot of struggles to overcome and I could see how her life experiences impacted her writing--sometimes events were lifted straight out of her life. This is a really hard text to rate. I suppose the only flaws would be that sometimes William's philosophising was a little tangential, and I would have liked to have learned more about Mary as a mother, since this was obviously something that was very important to her. 4*
March 6, 2012
Really unusual travel writing by the famous feminist and mother of Mary Shelley. Certain passages obviously inform parts of Frankenstein.
November 19, 2013
Rated for Short Residence, as I had little interest in reading the biography.
June 8, 2016
The fact that any of this happened is WILD. Absolutely wild.
November 3, 2024
I would like to put my rating closer to 3.5 stars. The introduction in the Penguin edition was helpful to place the situation of the two works present in the book, although the introduction showered praise where I found not nearly as much as due. This is hailed as a monumental work from Wollstonecraft, although I thought it ranking better than average of her contemporaries; and Godwin's account was interesting for a different perspective on Wollstonecraft but not terribly notable beyond a short biography. Essentially, Wollstonecraft was entangled with her husband until the relationship broke apart and she took the occasion to write correspondence as she tried business ventures on his behalf in Scandinavia. She comments on the people, places, and sights--having some nice imagery from time to time. Godwin reveals her full background in his biography to let the reader know how her poor relationships with men over her life have led to her more liberal views of early feminism. He shares how they grew together, when they initially opposed each other's viewpoints, to complement the other and seek marriage despite disliking the institution. Godwin closes with her death at the birth of their child, giving some detail to the issue as he tries to understand why this is happening.
August 27, 2023
Both Wollstonecraft's A Short Residence and Godwin's Memoirs deserve five stars. In A Short Residence, Wollstonecraft reveals such an intimate side of her writing; it was very touching at many moments, and absolutely compelling throughout. I have read all of Wollstonecraft's works in chronological order as they were published, and this being the last major work published during her life, it is a beautiful culmination of her writing. Being dropped into her personal world, you can see why this book was so cherished during her lifetime and by later generations. She uses her keen observation to characterize and philosophize about her surroundings in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. For example, she remarks eloquently on the beauty of the landscapes (and the lack of such in the mercantile cities she encounters), the customs she notices, the institutions she critiques, and the nature of humanity as a whole. For the most part, her warmness of character shines throughout; and where there are blatant and somewhat harsh criticisms, you still hold close the appreciation (as she usually explicitly states at other various points) that it came not from cynicism but from a true desire to see humanity reach its ideal potential. Her heart bled for that, and her once-in-a-generation sincerity is absolutely persuasive in that cause via her writing; including this more personal, rather than philosophical, work. An excerpt that stood out to me, in particular, was one in which she seems to have some observations about the nature of, in a broad sense, natural selection: 'I viewed, with a mixture of pity and horror, these beings [soldiers] training to be sold to slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an old opinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not of individuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity throughout the whole of Nature. Blossoms come forth only to be blighted; fish lay their spawn where it will be devoured; and what a large portion of the human race are born merely to be swept prematurely away! Does not this waste of budding life emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose preservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan of the universe? Children peep into existence, suffer, and die; men play like moths about a candle, and sink into the flame; war, and “the thousand ills which flesh is heir to,” mow them down in shoals; whilst the more cruel prejudices of society palsy existence, introducing not less sure though slower decay.' As for Godwin's infamous Memoirs, though it tarnished Wollstonecraft's legacy immediately and long after her death, I truly cherish it as an invaluable record of some details of her life. In my view, for the most part, he achieves the near-perfect balance between the intimate and objective side of a biographer; he postulates where appropriate, and does a good job of making his own views explicit as separate from fact. Where he includes his opinion, it is intriguing enough to warrant its presence. For any objective facts, he includes them and marks them clearly as such. Anything mired in the least uncertainty (usually due to his own lapses of memory or lack of direct documentation from Wollstonecraft or interviews), he also marks clearly. With this in mind, I would supplement Memoirs with a more recent biography of Wollstonecraft, as some information is outdated or left out completely (like the business that prompted Wollstonecraft's journey to the Nordic countries in the first place!) by Godwin, whether on purpose or lack of knowledge on his part; and of course, I take his, like any other, account with an appropriate degree of skepticism. In the final chapter, Godwin has the misfortune to say, 'Her religion, her philosophy, . . . were, as I have already said, the pure result of feeling and taste. She adopted one opinion, and rejected another, spontaneously, by a sort of tact, and the force of a cultivated imagination; and yet, though perhaps, in the strict sense of the term, she reasoned little, it is surprising what a degree of soundness is to be found in her determinations'; which came to me as a surprise, as it was, in my opinion, a failure of assessment of Wollstonecraft's own principle of consistent, introspective reflection in order to reach resolute reasoning. She exalts this principle emphatically throughout her works as often as someone who could only be a devoted disciple of it. To his credit, this is his own evaluation of Wollstonecraft through his experiences with her as her husband, in spite of her œuvre, which he did consult when writing this book. Other than this, Memoirs is generally a very touching portrait of a special person in history. Her importance in intellectual history, which Godwin evaluates so perfectly in the opening, is as follows: 'There are not many individuals with whose character the public welfare and improvement are more intimately connected, than the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.' With this, I think anyone who studies Wollstonecraft closely could agree.
June 11, 2024
Of this edition -
I think the book is slightly out of order. I suggest reading chapters 1 - 5 of the introduction, then A Short Residence, then the rest of the introduction, then Memoirs. The introduction definitely adds something meaningful to the text, as do the editor’s footnotes. Don’t take them for granted and ignore them. That said, there are probably more than there need to be.
Putting the two books together was a brilliant idea - they stand much stronger together than apart. Their contrast gives striking insight into the temperaments of the two authors, the way Wollstonecraft viewed herself, and the way she was viewed by others. The editor’s notes augment this by providing additional biographical, historical, and cultural context. If you plan to read either of these books, I suggest reading both in this edition.
Of the texts themselves -
Wollstonecraft and Godwin’s writing couldn’t be more different as writers. Wollstonecraft is romantic, verbose, and morose. Godwin is frank, without a word wasted (except maybe some of the 2nd edition clarifying edits and his conclusion).
I found the Letters hard to get through toward the end because Wollstonecraft (stuck in a deep depression at the time) is unmatched in her ability to find something to complain about, except maybe by Holden Caulfield. At least she’s pretty about it? Look not here for a travel guide to 18th-century Scandinavia; this is a book that tells you much more about the author than her subject.
The Memoirs I enjoyed much more, and they’re especially interesting in their boldness in the context of the time period. I read through the Memoirs before reading their description in the introduction and it didn’t even occur to me how they might have been received at the time - how far we’ve come. Godwin is unabashed in his attempt at honest portrayal of her life, their relationship, her hopes, fears, and dreams. He tries as much as possible to act as a neutral biographer, and for the most part, succeeds. The place where neutrality leaves, however, is the most powerful - his final chapter on her death is harrowing and filled with unspoken emotion.
Wollstonecraft’s contributions to early feminism and the advancement of women are indisputable, and this collection offers a look much more focused on her personal life, “the woman behind The Woman.” I recommend it to feminists, history buffs, and romantics.
I think the book is slightly out of order. I suggest reading chapters 1 - 5 of the introduction, then A Short Residence, then the rest of the introduction, then Memoirs. The introduction definitely adds something meaningful to the text, as do the editor’s footnotes. Don’t take them for granted and ignore them. That said, there are probably more than there need to be.
Putting the two books together was a brilliant idea - they stand much stronger together than apart. Their contrast gives striking insight into the temperaments of the two authors, the way Wollstonecraft viewed herself, and the way she was viewed by others. The editor’s notes augment this by providing additional biographical, historical, and cultural context. If you plan to read either of these books, I suggest reading both in this edition.
Of the texts themselves -
Wollstonecraft and Godwin’s writing couldn’t be more different as writers. Wollstonecraft is romantic, verbose, and morose. Godwin is frank, without a word wasted (except maybe some of the 2nd edition clarifying edits and his conclusion).
I found the Letters hard to get through toward the end because Wollstonecraft (stuck in a deep depression at the time) is unmatched in her ability to find something to complain about, except maybe by Holden Caulfield. At least she’s pretty about it? Look not here for a travel guide to 18th-century Scandinavia; this is a book that tells you much more about the author than her subject.
The Memoirs I enjoyed much more, and they’re especially interesting in their boldness in the context of the time period. I read through the Memoirs before reading their description in the introduction and it didn’t even occur to me how they might have been received at the time - how far we’ve come. Godwin is unabashed in his attempt at honest portrayal of her life, their relationship, her hopes, fears, and dreams. He tries as much as possible to act as a neutral biographer, and for the most part, succeeds. The place where neutrality leaves, however, is the most powerful - his final chapter on her death is harrowing and filled with unspoken emotion.
Wollstonecraft’s contributions to early feminism and the advancement of women are indisputable, and this collection offers a look much more focused on her personal life, “the woman behind The Woman.” I recommend it to feminists, history buffs, and romantics.
January 10, 2019
Something I somehow missed when studying the romantics many years ago. Two books in one: Mary Wollstonecraft's travel diary in the form of 25 letters, and then a memoir of her by her husband William Godwin.
The letters are apparently to Gilbert Imlay, and are interesting as an early record of an area which most British travellers never reached (and certainly not women accompanied only by a maid and a toddler). Scandinavia was never part of the Grand Tour, although the Norwegian landscape in particular fits very nicely into the growing romantic yearning for wild scenery. Some of her observations are a bit sharp perhaps (the Swedish ladies took great offence at being described as fat), but she also brings some enlightened comments to bear on such issues as the price of labour. The real purpose of her visit (which she never mentions) was to hunt for a missing ship belonging to Gilbert Imlay.
Godwin's memoir I find very moving. Obviously (and surely he must have expected this) some of the details of Mary's life were likely to shock; but they had both been very open about their attitudes to relationships. The description of her death is a salutary reminder to be grateful that we no longer have Georgian obstetrics to contend with. (The puppies! A detail I'm not likely to forget.)
The letters are apparently to Gilbert Imlay, and are interesting as an early record of an area which most British travellers never reached (and certainly not women accompanied only by a maid and a toddler). Scandinavia was never part of the Grand Tour, although the Norwegian landscape in particular fits very nicely into the growing romantic yearning for wild scenery. Some of her observations are a bit sharp perhaps (the Swedish ladies took great offence at being described as fat), but she also brings some enlightened comments to bear on such issues as the price of labour. The real purpose of her visit (which she never mentions) was to hunt for a missing ship belonging to Gilbert Imlay.
Godwin's memoir I find very moving. Obviously (and surely he must have expected this) some of the details of Mary's life were likely to shock; but they had both been very open about their attitudes to relationships. The description of her death is a salutary reminder to be grateful that we no longer have Georgian obstetrics to contend with. (The puppies! A detail I'm not likely to forget.)
February 27, 2023
“…but the fear of annihilation — the only thing of which I have ever felt dread — I cannot bear to think of being no more — of losing myself — though existence is often but a painful consciousness of misery; nay, it appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised dust … Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable — and life is more than a dream” <3
(p.112)
— she lived beyond her body and her spirit remains alive in her words, still conveying her doughty nature and vigour
(p.112)
— she lived beyond her body and her spirit remains alive in her words, still conveying her doughty nature and vigour
April 4, 2018
Quickly became one of my favorites.
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