What do you think?
Rate this book
Mary Wollstonecraft: Kadın Haklarının Gerekçelendirmesi'nin Yazarı
O dönem İngilteresinin en tartışmalı iki ismi: ilk feminist olarak kabul edilen Mary Wollstonecraft ve ilk anarşistlerden biri olan William Godwin…
Wollstonecraft’ın 1797 yılında ölümünün hemen ardından kocası William Godwin tarafından kaleme alınan bu yaşamöyküsü, çıktığı andan itibaren müthiş hararetli bir tartışma ortamı yaratır. Mary, kültür ortamlarında ve salonlarda açıksözlü ve özgür bir kişilik olarak kendini göstermiştir, fakat bu kitap tutucu İngiliz toplumu için infial yaratacak bir kadın modeli ortaya çıkarır. Özgürlüğünden ve dürüstlüğünden taviz vermeyen diğer isim Godwin ise, tahminen Mary’nin anısına gösterdiği hassasiyet nedeniyle düzeltmeler yapmak ister ve kısa süre içerisinde kitabı tekrardan yayınlatır.
Mary Wollstonecraft, kimilerince günümüz anlamında “bilinçli” bir feminist olmaktan uzak bir şahsiyet olarak sunulur. Fakat derinlemesine incelendiğinde, bugün feminizm ile ilgili konuşulan sorunların kökenini inşa eden tartışmalar başlattığı açığa çıkmaktadır. Bu kitap ile birlikte, Wollstonecraft’ın görüşlerini duruşuyla ve yaşam tarzıyla da desteklediği anlaşılmaktadır. Nihayetinde hayatının apaçık bir şekilde sunulmasının kapalı bir İngiliz Aristokrasisi içerisinde büyük sorunlar yaratacağı aşikardır. Denilir ki, bu kitap yüzünden onyıllar boyunca kötü bir şöhretle anılan Wollstonecraft efsanesi ortaya çıkmıştır. Elbet bu denli tutucu bir toplum baskısından en çok etkilenen, her zaman olduğu gibi çocuklardır: Frankenstein’in yazarı, en az annesi kadar berrak bir zihne sahip ve evlilik dışı bir ilişkinin ürünü: Mary Shelley…
Tarihe mal olmuş bunca önemli bir kitabı ilk kez Türkçeye, Fihrist mührü ile kazandırmış olmak, bizim için büyük bir mutluluk kaynağıdır.
Wollstonecraft’ın 1797 yılında ölümünün hemen ardından kocası William Godwin tarafından kaleme alınan bu yaşamöyküsü, çıktığı andan itibaren müthiş hararetli bir tartışma ortamı yaratır. Mary, kültür ortamlarında ve salonlarda açıksözlü ve özgür bir kişilik olarak kendini göstermiştir, fakat bu kitap tutucu İngiliz toplumu için infial yaratacak bir kadın modeli ortaya çıkarır. Özgürlüğünden ve dürüstlüğünden taviz vermeyen diğer isim Godwin ise, tahminen Mary’nin anısına gösterdiği hassasiyet nedeniyle düzeltmeler yapmak ister ve kısa süre içerisinde kitabı tekrardan yayınlatır.
Mary Wollstonecraft, kimilerince günümüz anlamında “bilinçli” bir feminist olmaktan uzak bir şahsiyet olarak sunulur. Fakat derinlemesine incelendiğinde, bugün feminizm ile ilgili konuşulan sorunların kökenini inşa eden tartışmalar başlattığı açığa çıkmaktadır. Bu kitap ile birlikte, Wollstonecraft’ın görüşlerini duruşuyla ve yaşam tarzıyla da desteklediği anlaşılmaktadır. Nihayetinde hayatının apaçık bir şekilde sunulmasının kapalı bir İngiliz Aristokrasisi içerisinde büyük sorunlar yaratacağı aşikardır. Denilir ki, bu kitap yüzünden onyıllar boyunca kötü bir şöhretle anılan Wollstonecraft efsanesi ortaya çıkmıştır. Elbet bu denli tutucu bir toplum baskısından en çok etkilenen, her zaman olduğu gibi çocuklardır: Frankenstein’in yazarı, en az annesi kadar berrak bir zihne sahip ve evlilik dışı bir ilişkinin ürünü: Mary Shelley…
Tarihe mal olmuş bunca önemli bir kitabı ilk kez Türkçeye, Fihrist mührü ile kazandırmış olmak, bizim için büyük bir mutluluk kaynağıdır.
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1798
29 people are currently reading
711 people want to read
About the author
William Godwin
489 books196 followersWilliam Godwin was the son and grandson of strait-laced Calvinist ministers. Strictly-raised, he followed in paternal footsteps, becoming a minister by age 22. His reading of atheist d'Holbach and others caused him to lose both his belief in the doctrine of eternal damnation, and his ministerial position. Through further reading, Godwin gradually became godless. He promoted anarchism (but not anarchy). His Political Justice and The Enquirer (1793) argued for morality without religion, causing a scandal. He followed that philosophical book with a trail-blazing fictional adventure-detective story, Caleb Williams (1794), to introduce readers to his ideas in a popular format. Godwin, a leading thinker and author ranking in his day close to Thomas Paine, was enormously influential among famous peers.
He and Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, secretly married in 1797. She died tragically after giving birth to daughter Mary in 1797. Godwin's loving but candid biography of his wife, Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798), further scandalized society. Godwin, caring not only for the baby Mary, but her half-sister Fanny, remarried. He and his second wife opened a bookshop for children. Godwin, out of necessity, became a proficient author of children's books, employing a pseudonym due to his notoriety. His daughter Mary, at 16, famously ran off with poet Percy Shelley, whose Necessity of Atheism was influenced by Godwin. Mary's novel Frankenstein also paid homage to her father's views. Godwin's life was marked by poverty and further domestic tragedies. Godwin's prized manuscript attacked the Christian religion and was intended to free the mind from slavery. The Genius of Christianity Unveiled: in a Series of Essays was published only many years after his death.
He and Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, secretly married in 1797. She died tragically after giving birth to daughter Mary in 1797. Godwin's loving but candid biography of his wife, Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798), further scandalized society. Godwin, caring not only for the baby Mary, but her half-sister Fanny, remarried. He and his second wife opened a bookshop for children. Godwin, out of necessity, became a proficient author of children's books, employing a pseudonym due to his notoriety. His daughter Mary, at 16, famously ran off with poet Percy Shelley, whose Necessity of Atheism was influenced by Godwin. Mary's novel Frankenstein also paid homage to her father's views. Godwin's life was marked by poverty and further domestic tragedies. Godwin's prized manuscript attacked the Christian religion and was intended to free the mind from slavery. The Genius of Christianity Unveiled: in a Series of Essays was published only many years after his death.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 6, 2014
I began skimming this because I am writing a paper on Mary Wollstonecraft for a class, but within a page or two, I realized how beautiful it was and I backed up and began to read it in earnest. At a mere 50 pages I read it, riveted, in a single go. I'm glad it includes the word Memoir in the title, because it is not a true biography, were it making that kind of claim, it would read more like hagiography - it is a memoir of William Godwin's knowledge and experience of Mary Wollstonecraft's life.
As a monument to his love for Wollstonecraft, Godwin, as her widower chose to expose with visceral honesty the story of Wollstonecraft's life; because he loved her so much that he believed she had nothing to be ashamed of. It's easy enough to agree with him from a modern perspective, but this memoir scandalized Wollstonecraft's legacy and left her groundbreaking masterpiece "On the Vindication of the Rights of Woman," despised and unread till Virginia Woolf unearthed it over a hundred years later and dusted it off for future feminists.
I understood that going into the text, what I wasn't prepared for was how entirely Godwin loved and revered Wollstonecraft. His memoir caresses the memory of Wollstonecraft with the delicacy of a lover's hands. He sees and exposes every negative propensity Wollstonecraft possessed, but through the eyes of unconditional acceptance he explains how she could make no other choices and be true to herself. It is a memoir of love and devotion between two 18th century radicals that were centuries ahead of their time and it rocked my world.
Highly recommended!
As a monument to his love for Wollstonecraft, Godwin, as her widower chose to expose with visceral honesty the story of Wollstonecraft's life; because he loved her so much that he believed she had nothing to be ashamed of. It's easy enough to agree with him from a modern perspective, but this memoir scandalized Wollstonecraft's legacy and left her groundbreaking masterpiece "On the Vindication of the Rights of Woman," despised and unread till Virginia Woolf unearthed it over a hundred years later and dusted it off for future feminists.
I understood that going into the text, what I wasn't prepared for was how entirely Godwin loved and revered Wollstonecraft. His memoir caresses the memory of Wollstonecraft with the delicacy of a lover's hands. He sees and exposes every negative propensity Wollstonecraft possessed, but through the eyes of unconditional acceptance he explains how she could make no other choices and be true to herself. It is a memoir of love and devotion between two 18th century radicals that were centuries ahead of their time and it rocked my world.
Highly recommended!
October 22, 2019
like a very long wikipedia article
July 17, 2018
A fascinating insight into the life of Mary Wollstonecraft by her husband, this early exple of biography shows her as a complex human, with flaws and weaknesses, whilst also praising her strengths. It's interesting how it was significantly rewritten for the second edition, which raises a lot of questions over how this account was received by both friends and the public.
December 7, 2007
The life of Mary Wollstonecraft, as told by William Godwin. This is really engaging, and simply heartbreaking.
April 9, 2012
I am sad to say that this book diminished my opinion of both its author and its subject. I share the assessment of most of Godwin's contemporaries, that he goes too far here, sharing his late wife's weaknesses and trials in brutal detail. The section devoted to Mary Wollstonecraft's unfortunate, years long affair with the never-faithful Gilbert Imlay, and her suicide attempts, is very upsetting, as is the lengthy unfolding of Wollstonecraft's untimely death that follows short after. Additionally, Godwin's apparent need to justify his feelings for Wollstonecraft by attributing them to mental characteristics in her that he found admirable, falls flat. That's not the way it works, Bill!
In short, this is a curio.
In short, this is a curio.
July 16, 2021
Having to replace a “f” with a “s” made this reading a bit challenging.
February 17, 2025
this is honestly so beautiful
February 7, 2024
A short, loving but honest account of a life that mostly made me want to give both of them a hug, particularly Mary, who just could not catch a break until she did for a few seemingly quite happy years and then promptly died post-childbirth, younger than I am.
I really appreciated that Godwin was both pretty honest about his own failings and hers; it lent a credence to the whole thing that made me trust him a little more. His review of her writings are an excellent ride of "are the structure and pacing a bit uneven? yes, from the strictest sense! i too nitpicked! but -- (goes on to praise the emotion and passion in the writing) (ends up somehow waxing poetic about the better nature of his other half in a soft literary-activist choir of angels).
It's incredibly endearing.
I've known a bit about their beliefs, of course, but not from a primary source, and found it really interesting to hear him speak on religion, marriage and their joint opinions on things like socializing with/without each other in mixed company, as well as Mary's beliefs about expressing affection within the bounds of friendship including with men in a time when that was NOT acceptable. (Though, given her tendency to fall in love with her friends, this didn't always work out for her.) I had also sort of forgotten, I guess, that yes, Mary Shelley's parents occupied the exact period of time to be friends with Thomas Paine and many of the French Revolutionaries? Which is boggling for a few minutes and then makes a lot of sense.
There are a few moments when the author is quietly passive-aggressive at the ex-husband who nearly caused Mary's suicide more than once, and it's (his unimpressed snark, not the depression) very funny in a relatable way. There are a few good authorial moments in otherwise a very formally written biography and it gave Godwin quite a bit of life as well as Mary.
I found myself definitely wanting to dig more into her early life and her friendship with Fanny (which is described in slightly...sapphic terms, but I don't know if that's me reading into it); also, to find out more about her other friendships. I thought it was really lovely to see Wollstonecraft described as primarily driven by taking care of others -- she's so often portrayed as a rebellious, anti-authoritarian anarchist, free love advocate etc etc, but -- true to his description of people of the day expecting her to be boistrous and masculine and being surprised by a delicately witty and outgoing woman -- the fact that she was a teacher and caregiver seems to get lost sometimes. I had a bit of a moment of feeling like he was defending her womanly virtue a bit overly much, but realized ...no, this is just how people were and still are: feminists are seen in only a few ways.
She seems to have lived much of her life taking care of others, making sure her siblings, child, best friends, children in her care as a teacher, and even abusive father and exes were taken of. It doesn't shock me at all: many of the most ardent human rights activists I know are that way because they ARE carers.
All in all, would have read this if it was twice as long (though possibly not completely in one night). I thought the early-1800s language was easy to deal with, and it made me more curious about their relationship and about both Godwin and Wollstonecraft. So. Job well done, Godwin!
PS: Especially learning that she really enjoyed and cherished domestic life and had many opinions on raising children [and as a governess and teacher, as well as an eldest sister in a very not-happy family, plenty of comparitive experience] -- which I think I did know, but had forgotten -- I really want to know what Mary Shelley's life would have been like with a mother around. (Slightly less dramatically gothy, learning to readand other things at her grave, for one thing!) Also want to know more about Frances/Fanny (Imlay? Godwin? Not sure whose name she would have ended up with, but Mary (the younger)'s elder half-sister who Godwin adopted and who was named after her extremely close friend.)
I really appreciated that Godwin was both pretty honest about his own failings and hers; it lent a credence to the whole thing that made me trust him a little more. His review of her writings are an excellent ride of "are the structure and pacing a bit uneven? yes, from the strictest sense! i too nitpicked! but -- (goes on to praise the emotion and passion in the writing) (ends up somehow waxing poetic about the better nature of his other half in a soft literary-activist choir of angels).
It's incredibly endearing.
I've known a bit about their beliefs, of course, but not from a primary source, and found it really interesting to hear him speak on religion, marriage and their joint opinions on things like socializing with/without each other in mixed company, as well as Mary's beliefs about expressing affection within the bounds of friendship including with men in a time when that was NOT acceptable. (Though, given her tendency to fall in love with her friends, this didn't always work out for her.) I had also sort of forgotten, I guess, that yes, Mary Shelley's parents occupied the exact period of time to be friends with Thomas Paine and many of the French Revolutionaries? Which is boggling for a few minutes and then makes a lot of sense.
There are a few moments when the author is quietly passive-aggressive at the ex-husband who nearly caused Mary's suicide more than once, and it's (his unimpressed snark, not the depression) very funny in a relatable way. There are a few good authorial moments in otherwise a very formally written biography and it gave Godwin quite a bit of life as well as Mary.
I found myself definitely wanting to dig more into her early life and her friendship with Fanny (which is described in slightly...sapphic terms, but I don't know if that's me reading into it); also, to find out more about her other friendships. I thought it was really lovely to see Wollstonecraft described as primarily driven by taking care of others -- she's so often portrayed as a rebellious, anti-authoritarian anarchist, free love advocate etc etc, but -- true to his description of people of the day expecting her to be boistrous and masculine and being surprised by a delicately witty and outgoing woman -- the fact that she was a teacher and caregiver seems to get lost sometimes. I had a bit of a moment of feeling like he was defending her womanly virtue a bit overly much, but realized ...no, this is just how people were and still are: feminists are seen in only a few ways.
She seems to have lived much of her life taking care of others, making sure her siblings, child, best friends, children in her care as a teacher, and even abusive father and exes were taken of. It doesn't shock me at all: many of the most ardent human rights activists I know are that way because they ARE carers.
All in all, would have read this if it was twice as long (though possibly not completely in one night). I thought the early-1800s language was easy to deal with, and it made me more curious about their relationship and about both Godwin and Wollstonecraft. So. Job well done, Godwin!
PS: Especially learning that she really enjoyed and cherished domestic life and had many opinions on raising children [and as a governess and teacher, as well as an eldest sister in a very not-happy family, plenty of comparitive experience] -- which I think I did know, but had forgotten -- I really want to know what Mary Shelley's life would have been like with a mother around. (Slightly less dramatically gothy, learning to read
December 3, 2017
"Ho sempre pensato che sia un dovere di chi resta ricordare apertamente la vita di persone scomparse le cui qualità sono state eccezionali."
Questa breve biografia è un colpo al cuore. Non è la vita di un'illustre personaggio raccontata da uno storico, un critico letterario o un qualsiasi nostro contemporaneo. Bensì, è stata scritta dal marito della Wollstonecraft, William Godwin.
La vita di Mary, autrice de "I Diritti della Donna", la prima probabilmente a scrivere di femminismo, è raccontata da un punto di vista più intimo e soprattutto influenzato dai sentimenti. Una cosa su tutte mi ha sorpresa: quest'uomo parla della moglie come dell'essere più intelligente che abbia mai conosciuto, come di una donna piena di virtù e con pochi difetti. I pochi che sembra avere sono appena menzionati e subito giustificati. Scontato? Non direi. Se pensiamo che i due sono vissuti tra il diciottesimo e diciannovesimo secolo, periodo in cui le donne erano considerate adatte solo a figliare e cucire. Un aspetto che mi ha lasciata perplessa è l'apparente distacco con cui racconta un episodio molto tragico della vita della moglie, oltre che estremamente personale. Non mi stupisce che il libro avesse destato scalpore appena uscito.
Il finale mi ha spezzato il cuore.
"Lascio valutare agli altri quale perdita sia per il mondo la scomparsa di questa donna degna di ammirazione. Il dolore che soffrii è ben noto e non può essere espresso a parole. [...] Ciò di cui intendo parlare è la possibilità di miglioramento intellettuale che ho perso per sempre."[...] Ciò che a me mancava lo possedeva Mary.
Non posso non chiedermi quanto il mondo della letteratura ha perso, quando Mary è morta. Vorrei che i meriti di questa donna fossero riconosciuti di più, che si studiasse nelle scuole, e io per prima non vedo l'ora di mettermi in pari con la lettura delle sue opere. E non posso chiedermi quanto sarebbe stata diversa la vita e la personalità stessa di Mary Shelley se la madre fosse stata ancora viva.
"Mary Wollstonecraft verrà ricordata come colei che ha contribuito alla causa delle donne più di ogni altro scrittore - uomo o donna - spinto dal desiderio di agire per conto di una bellezza così oppressa e ingiuriata."
Questa breve biografia è un colpo al cuore. Non è la vita di un'illustre personaggio raccontata da uno storico, un critico letterario o un qualsiasi nostro contemporaneo. Bensì, è stata scritta dal marito della Wollstonecraft, William Godwin.
La vita di Mary, autrice de "I Diritti della Donna", la prima probabilmente a scrivere di femminismo, è raccontata da un punto di vista più intimo e soprattutto influenzato dai sentimenti. Una cosa su tutte mi ha sorpresa: quest'uomo parla della moglie come dell'essere più intelligente che abbia mai conosciuto, come di una donna piena di virtù e con pochi difetti. I pochi che sembra avere sono appena menzionati e subito giustificati. Scontato? Non direi. Se pensiamo che i due sono vissuti tra il diciottesimo e diciannovesimo secolo, periodo in cui le donne erano considerate adatte solo a figliare e cucire. Un aspetto che mi ha lasciata perplessa è l'apparente distacco con cui racconta un episodio molto tragico della vita della moglie, oltre che estremamente personale. Non mi stupisce che il libro avesse destato scalpore appena uscito.
Il finale mi ha spezzato il cuore.
"Lascio valutare agli altri quale perdita sia per il mondo la scomparsa di questa donna degna di ammirazione. Il dolore che soffrii è ben noto e non può essere espresso a parole. [...] Ciò di cui intendo parlare è la possibilità di miglioramento intellettuale che ho perso per sempre."[...] Ciò che a me mancava lo possedeva Mary.
Non posso non chiedermi quanto il mondo della letteratura ha perso, quando Mary è morta. Vorrei che i meriti di questa donna fossero riconosciuti di più, che si studiasse nelle scuole, e io per prima non vedo l'ora di mettermi in pari con la lettura delle sue opere. E non posso chiedermi quanto sarebbe stata diversa la vita e la personalità stessa di Mary Shelley se la madre fosse stata ancora viva.
"Mary Wollstonecraft verrà ricordata come colei che ha contribuito alla causa delle donne più di ogni altro scrittore - uomo o donna - spinto dal desiderio di agire per conto di una bellezza così oppressa e ingiuriata."
October 22, 2015
I really could not get into this. It was one of the few books I've started that I can't finish. I feel bad about it. It's an historical document, and I can appreciate it on that level. It's also self-serving. I admire Godwin. I love Wollstonecraft. I don't like the book. And I hate that.a
January 12, 2018
Godwin was really something huh. The way in which he constructs Mary Wollstonecraft is quite fascinating. He's far too manipulative and unjust to Mary for me to actually enjoy this as a memoir, but it's an interesting text nonetheless.
August 28, 2019
Having just finished, the tears are still drying on my face. This is an interesting and passionate memoir of a woman I very much admire, and I’m glad I now know more about her life. The last chapter made me sob aloud, feeling the pure anguish Godwin conveys as Mary slowly dies.
Read
September 23, 2010"Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1798 (Revolution and Romanticism, 1789-1834) by William Godwin (1990)"
July 14, 2014
Godwin's style is very dated in today's terms. Nevertheless, an informative and sympathetic account of an extraordinary person.
February 18, 2017
Read for Frankenstein's Forbearers! The last chapters about her life with William Godwin are beautiful and the part where he recounts her death are heartbreaking!
February 12, 2018
Illuminating though flawed, tragic portrait of a radical figure & continuing inspiration (to me!)
October 21, 2022
Had me in shock
November 25, 2019
These memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft were written by her husband after her unexpected death from complications during childbirth. Most of the public’s conception of Wollstonecraft comes from these letters both for better and worse. For one, it established her as a sexually immoral woman overcome with desires and passions which did not help her reputation at the time but also Godwin very much framed her life as a narrative where meeting himself is the treated like meeting her handsome prince. This was certainly a misconception I had had before studying Wollstonecraft but she was only actually in a relationship with Godwin for a short time and if she hadn’t have died when she did it’s unlikely it would be considered so important in her life. Godwin tries to paint an accurate picture of the woman he loved but equally he mentions her daughter less than three times and her work a small amount compared to her romantic liaisons. It was fascinating to look at how this memoir even unintentionally really didn’t do Wollstonecraft many favours. It shows how socially constructed history really is.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 22, 2019
Ik heb dat boek eind jaren 80s gelezen en daarna verschillende keren herlezen toen ik doceerde over Mary Wollstonecraft. Het is een heel mooi boek. Het heeft zijn en Mary's reputatie echter geen goed gedaan maar het is wel heel eerlijk en mooi.
Toen wisr ik veel minder over William Godwin dan ik nu weet. Toen besefte ik nog niet zo goed dat ik het met zijn ideeen grondig oneens ben. Dit boek gaat echter niet over hem maar over haar.
Ontroerend en helder.
Toen wisr ik veel minder over William Godwin dan ik nu weet. Toen besefte ik nog niet zo goed dat ik het met zijn ideeen grondig oneens ben. Dit boek gaat echter niet over hem maar over haar.
Ontroerend en helder.
June 29, 2020
Read for ENGL 4443
Read
October 19, 2020*No rating, read for college
(but used other edition from 2015: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...)
(but used other edition from 2015: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...)
September 27, 2022
Mary Wollstonecraft, your 18th-century Anti-Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Read
May 11, 2023mary wollstonecraft méritait tellement mieux
October 17, 2023
this made me very sad for women
November 15, 2023
Blah blah blah Mary Wollstonecraft
September 16, 2025
Just a tad passive-aggressive. I feel that Godwin must have felt betrayed in some way in order to write this biography.
September 17, 2025
Boring, but he really loved her...
December 27, 2022
A heartfelt, loving tribute to a remarkable, inspirational woman.
Want to read
September 6, 2017I read "romance of the outlaws" about Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley. This memoir is by Godwin, Mary's husband. Can't wait to read it.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews