The Godwinian Novel

Abstract

This book 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 Shelley. In the first study of these authors as a historically specific group, the book argues for a greater unity between Godwin's fictional techniques and his radical political philosophy than has been perceived. Its 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, the book 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, this book paves the way for a reappraisal of the apparently quietist and introspective concerns of other writers of the period.

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