The Godwinian novel
Subtitle: the rational fictions of Godwin, Brockden Brown, Mary Shelley
By: Pamela Clemit.
Series: Oxford English monographs
Publisher: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press
Published: 1993
Place of publication: Oxford, United Kingdom; New York, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 254
Subjects: Godwin, William, 1756-1836 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Brown, Charles Brockden, 1771-1810 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Godwin, William, 1756-1836 -- Influence.; Political fiction, English -- History and criticism.; Politics and literature -- English-speaking countries.; Horror tales -- History and criticism.; American fiction -- English influences.; Rationalism in literature.; Radicalism in literature.; Romanticism.
Description: The Godwinian Novel is a pioneering analysis of the school of fiction inaugurated by William Godwin, and developed in the works of his principal followers, Charles Brockden Brown and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. In the first study of these authors as a historically specific group, Pamela Clemit argues for a greater unity between Godwin's fictional techniques and his radical political philosophy than has been perceived. Her analysis of the works of Brown and Mary Shelley, moreover, reveals how these writers modified, reshaped, and redefined Godwin's distinctive themes and techniques in response to shifting ideological pressures in the post-revolutionary period. Examining prose fiction in a period traditionally seen as dominated by poetry, Clemit stresses the necessity for a revised view of British Romanticism. Uncovering the links between Godwin's fictional analysis of subjective experience and his progressive political philosophy, The Godwinian Novel paves the way for a reappraisal of the apparently quietistic and introspective concerns of other writers of the period.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [220]-243) and index.