New Approaches to William Godwin: Forms, Fears, Futures

by Eliza O'Brien (Editor), Helen Stark (Editor), Beatrice Turner (Editor)

Overview

This collection showcases work on William Godwin (1756-1836) foregrounding new critical approaches and uncovering new texts. Godwin is a familiar presence in scholarship on the Shelley-Godwin circle and on Dissenting intellectual circles, but the present collection considers him closely as an author and thinker on his own terms. The range of texts and topics covered by this collection will be of interest both to scholars familiar with Godwin and those approaching his work for the first time. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030629120
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	03/29/2021
Series:	Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Cultures of Print
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Eliza O’Brien works in further education, and has published a range of articles on Godwin and his circle. 

Helen Stark works at University College London, UK. She has published on Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lord Byron. Her PhD on men of feeling and national identity in Romantic Literature was awarded by Newcastle University, UK, in 2013. 

Beatrice Turner works at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her first monograph, Romantic Childhood, Romantic Heirs: Reproduction and Retrospection 1820-1850, was published in 2017. 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to New Approaches to William Godwin: Forms, Fears, Futures.- Part I. Forms.- 2. Godwin, Ireland, and Historical Tragedy.- 3. ‘My son, once my friend’: Sanguinity, Sincerity, and Friendship in St. Leon’s Confessional Narrative.- 4. Through the Looking Glasses: Godwin’s Biographies for Children.- Part II. Fears.- 5. Candour, Courage, and the Calculation of Consequences in Godwin’s 1790s.- 6. Godwin’s Fear of the Private Affections.- 7. Gifts, Giving, Gratitude: The Development of William Godwin’s Radical Critique of Charity in the 1790s.- 8. Gines, Violence, and Fear in Things as They Are; or, the Adventures of Caleb Williams.- Part III. Futures.- 9. Godwin’s Popular Stories for the Nursery.- 10. Godwin and the Love of Fame.- 11. An Illustrated Afterlife: William Godwin’s Essay on Sepulchres.- 12. Godwin’s Citations, 1783–2005: Highest Renown at the Pinnacle of Disfavour.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“An impressive and well-crafted essay collection that will be of real interest to Godwin scholars at a time when he remains a prominent figure within Romantic debates.” (Paul Keen, is Professor of English at Carleton University, Canada, and author of A Defence of the Humanities in a Utilitarian Age (2020))