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Literary Criticism General

Mary and The Wrongs of Woman

by (author) Mary Wollstonecraft

edited by Gary Kelly

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Initial publish date
Feb 2009
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780199538904
    Publish Date
    Feb 2009
    List Price
    $15.50

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

'I have lately written...a tale, to illustrate an opinion of mine, that a genius will educate itself.'

Mary Wollstonecraft is best known for her pioneering views on the rights of women to share equal rights and opportunities with men. Expressed most forcefully in her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), her forthright opinions also inform her two innovative novels, Mary and The Wrongs of Woman, a fictional sequel to the Vindication. In both novels the heroines have to rely on their own resources to establish their independence and intellectual development. Mary learns to take control of her destiny and become a social philanthropist, while Maria, in The Wrongs of Woman, fights imprisonment and a loveless marriage to claim her rights.

Strongly autobiographical, both novels powerfully complement Wollstonecraft's non-fictional writing, inspired by the French Revolution and the social upheavals that followed.

About the authors

Contributor Notes

Mary Wollstonecraft was a British writer, philosopher, and early feminist. Editor Gary Kelly is Canada Research Chair at the University of Alberta.