The first volume of William Godwin's letters reflected the origins and impact of his great philosophical work, An Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and showed him at the height of his influence and reputation. This second volume (1798-1805) reveals a less familiar person in different surroundings: a man still well-connected, attracting new friends and disciples, but increasingly embattled as a public intellectual, as a political radical, and as a professional author. The volume includes scores of texts newly transcribed from the original manuscripts and given scholarly annotation for the first time. Godwin was not only a speculative philosopher but also a risk-taking entrepreneur. The letters show him responding to changes in public mood, seeking compromise in his philosophical commitments, and remaking himself as the author of novels, plays, biographies, and children's books. They trace the fragmentation of his intellectual circle of the 1790s and the building of new alliances. They include an eye-witness account of the condition of Ireland on the eve of the 1800 Act of Union. They follow his quest, in the wake of the death of his first wife Mary Wollstonecraft, to find a new life-companion and mother for his two young children. Godwin's letters reflect the cultural history of his times, and throw light on many other literary, political, and artistic figures. They record irreplaceable losses, both public and private, and trace new beginnings in his intellectual and literary development, in his commercial ventures, and in his social and domestic life.
- Submitting institution
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University of Durham
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 94111
- Type
- R - Scholarly edition
- DOI
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- Title of edition
- The Letters of William Godwin, Volume II: 1798-1805
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- ISBN
- 9780199562626
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- November
- Year of publication
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
-
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- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- This two-volume scholarly edition is the culmination of over a decade of research. The second volume, 472 pages, provides fully annotated texts of 241 letters, newly transcribed from original manuscripts, many published for the first time. The letters are drawn from the Bodleian Library, the New York Public Library, and smaller repositories worldwide. They represent texts at different stages of composition. Work involved identification, dating, decisions about which text to print, and biographical, historical, and literary research for the annotations. It includes a critical introduction of c.10,000 words; a chronology; four appendices; and a comprehensive index.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This is the second volume of a complete scholarly edition of the letters of William of Godwin and is the work of more than a decade. It publishes for the first time all the letters of this significant social thinker, novelist, and philosopher, including many transcribed from original manuscripts and given scholarly annotation for the first time. Its 472 pages cover letters from a major period of transition in Godwin's life and thought, which are contextualised in relation to the major thinkers, social networks and cultural history of the time. It includes an extended critical introduction and four factual appendices.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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