Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
William Godwin: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text

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

Appendix A: Biographical Models

Appendix B: Works by Godwin

Appendix C: Letters

Appendix D: Critical Reaction

Appendix E: Variants in the Second Edition

Select Bibliography

About the Author

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.

Reviews

“William Godwin’s 1798 Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman reflects Wollstonecraft’s and Godwin’s agendas for societal progress as well as the story of an era. Unfortunately, Godwin’s candid narrative of Wollstonecraft’s passions—for men, for women’s rights, for political reform—fueled attacks by enemies and embarrassment in friends. As a result, this significant historical and literary work has been relatively unavailable since its initial publication. Clemit’s and Walker’s excellent introduction, full annotations and appendices of contextual materials detail the book’s history, and situate it in terms of literature, feminism, politics, biography and publishing history, making this new edition of Memoirs especially welcome.” — Betty T. Bennett, editor of The Selected Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley“Pamela Clemit is a renowned Godwin scholar, and she and co-editor Gina Luria Walker significantly redirect attention from the Memoirs as a perversely prejudicial document in the reception of Wollstonecraft’s work to a central document within Godwin’s oeuvre and a key text for redefining notions of Romantic historiography.” — Wil Verhoeven, University of Groningen