AMS Studies in the Eighteenth-Century
1 total work
No 16
Published in 1794 at a watershed of English political and literary life, "Caleb William" remains Godwin's most durable and readable novel. Political, philosophical, and aesthetic currents, combined with the writer's sense of liberalism and repression, produced a unique portrayal of the destructive power and influence of government. Each of Professor Graham's seven chapters explores one facet of the novel against the ideological conflicts of the 1790s and examines Godwin's breakthroughs and influence on his readers, his political heirs and his craft. Aspects include: the novel as a radical critique of inequalities as they affect women, law, prisons, and law courts; the book as detective novel; inter-relationship of narrative and character, inner and outer worlds; the novel's Gothicism; the novel as expression of Godwin's "Political Justice"; Caleb William's influence on Byron, Shelley, Mary Shelley and novelists of the 19th and 20th centuries; and Godwin's unusual insight into the power of ideology.