Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman

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.

Pamela Clemit is Reader in English Studies at the University of Durham. She is the author of The Godwinian Novel (Clarendon Press, 1993), and has edited numerous editions of Godwin’s and Mary Shelley’s literary writings.

Gina Luria Walker is Chair of the Department of Social Sciences at The New School. She has written widely on women and Romantic literature.