Description
Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) made a pioneering and durably influential argument for women's equality. Emerging from the turbulent decade of the French Revolution, her vindication delivered a systematic critique of the treatment of women across time and place. Drawing on extensive experience teaching and writing about Wollstonecraft, Susan J. Wolfson offers new insight into how Wollstonecraft's particular methods, style, and energy make this case for her readers.
Wolfson places this polemic in its political and literary contexts and in relation to Wollstonecraft's other works about political rights. She considers how Wollstonecraft balanced advocacy for the seemingly universal ideals of the French Revolution with analysis of the gendered exclusions in the vaunted rights of "man." This book pays particular attention to Wollstonecraft's literary craft, highlighting the force of her close reading. Wollstonecraft pinpointed the role of gendered phrases and concepts in political discourse, both in her opponents' metaphors and received ideas and in her own efforts to craft a new political language with which to defend women's capabilities. Wolfson reveals her as a pioneer in decoupling sex from gender and shows how she provided an enduring model of how to be a female intellectual. Sharing the excitement of reading Wollstonecraft's work with care for her literary as well as political genius, this book provides fresh perspectives both for first-time readers and those seeking a nuanced appreciation of her achievements.
About the Author
Susan J. Wolfson is professor of English at Princeton University. An expert on the British Romantic era, she is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies. Wolfson's recent books include A Greeting of the Spirit (2022), Romantic Shades and Shadows (2018), and Reading John Keats (2015), as well as annotated editions of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (2012) and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (2014).
Reviews
Mary Wollstonecraft helped us to understand how easily the rights of women can vanish from the political and social scene and how 'natural' it can seem for men and women to ignore them. This remarkable book not only situates Wollstonecraft in history but also shows in detail how she altered history by writing so well. -- Michael G. Wood, author of The Habits of Distraction
This book is memorable, educational, and enjoyable, exploring Wollstonecraft's life and thought with brio and unrestrained pleasure. Wolfson's understanding of the subject is second to none-there is no one more authoritative or more learned. -- Duncan Wu, editor of Romanticism: An Anthology
Susan Wolfson's engaged and engaging account of Mary Wollstonecraft illuminates the creative intellectual energies that drove Wollstonecraft's prodigious achievement: nothing less than an analysis of women's situation in the context of a larger political system. Wolfson's exposition is dazzling. -- Frances Ferguson, author of Solitude and the Sublime: The Romantic Aesthetics of Individuation
Wolfson provides a compelling and classroom-friendly introduction to the troubled private life, flamboyant public career, and charged political afterlife of Mary Wollstonecraft. Her writing is scintillating, with vernacular verve and unflagging narrative drive. This book has everything-point, polish, and an accessibly gripping tale to tell. -- Garrett Stewart, James O. Freedman Professor of Letters, University of Iowa
An admirably witty, informative, and succinct new guide to Wollstonecraft's most famous book. -- Miranda Seymour * New York Review of Books *
[An] excellent study of A Vindication. -- Elaine Showalter * Times Literary Supplement *
This book provides fresh perspectives both for first-time readers and those seeking a nuanced appreciation of her achievements. * Discovery *
An exciting supplement to the ever-growing list of books on Wollstonecraft and her work...Wolfson's book works as both an introduction for undergraduate students and an engaging read for feminist and literary scholars. * Tulsa Studies on Women's Literature *
Book Information
ISBN 9780231206242
Author Susan J. Wolfson
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
Wolfson places this polemic in its political and literary contexts and in relation to Wollstonecraft's other works about political rights. She considers how Wollstonecraft balanced advocacy for the seemingly universal ideals of the French Revolution with analysis of the gendered exclusions in the vaunted rights of "man." This book pays particular attention to Wollstonecraft's literary craft, highlighting the force of her close reading. Wollstonecraft pinpointed the role of gendered phrases and concepts in political discourse, both in her opponents' metaphors and received ideas and in her own efforts to craft a new political language with which to defend women's capabilities. Wolfson reveals her as a pioneer in decoupling sex from gender and shows how she provided an enduring model of how to be a female intellectual. Sharing the excitement of reading Wollstonecraft's work with care for her literary as well as political genius, this book provides fresh perspectives both for first-time readers and those seeking a nuanced appreciation of her achievements.
About the Author
Susan J. Wolfson is professor of English at Princeton University. An expert on the British Romantic era, she is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies. Wolfson's recent books include A Greeting of the Spirit (2022), Romantic Shades and Shadows (2018), and Reading John Keats (2015), as well as annotated editions of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (2012) and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (2014).
Reviews
Mary Wollstonecraft helped us to understand how easily the rights of women can vanish from the political and social scene and how 'natural' it can seem for men and women to ignore them. This remarkable book not only situates Wollstonecraft in history but also shows in detail how she altered history by writing so well. -- Michael G. Wood, author of The Habits of Distraction
This book is memorable, educational, and enjoyable, exploring Wollstonecraft's life and thought with brio and unrestrained pleasure. Wolfson's understanding of the subject is second to none-there is no one more authoritative or more learned. -- Duncan Wu, editor of Romanticism: An Anthology
Susan Wolfson's engaged and engaging account of Mary Wollstonecraft illuminates the creative intellectual energies that drove Wollstonecraft's prodigious achievement: nothing less than an analysis of women's situation in the context of a larger political system. Wolfson's exposition is dazzling. -- Frances Ferguson, author of Solitude and the Sublime: The Romantic Aesthetics of Individuation
Wolfson provides a compelling and classroom-friendly introduction to the troubled private life, flamboyant public career, and charged political afterlife of Mary Wollstonecraft. Her writing is scintillating, with vernacular verve and unflagging narrative drive. This book has everything-point, polish, and an accessibly gripping tale to tell. -- Garrett Stewart, James O. Freedman Professor of Letters, University of Iowa
An admirably witty, informative, and succinct new guide to Wollstonecraft's most famous book. -- Miranda Seymour * New York Review of Books *
[An] excellent study of A Vindication. -- Elaine Showalter * Times Literary Supplement *
This book provides fresh perspectives both for first-time readers and those seeking a nuanced appreciation of her achievements. * Discovery *
An exciting supplement to the ever-growing list of books on Wollstonecraft and her work...Wolfson's book works as both an introduction for undergraduate students and an engaging read for feminist and literary scholars. * Tulsa Studies on Women's Literature *
Book Information
ISBN 9780231206242
Author Susan J. Wolfson
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
