Fleetwood is a pivotal novel of early English Romanticism and a powerful critique of the Romantic emotionalism being spread across Europe in Rousseau's name. Godwin's "new man of feeling" chronicles the impact of his "natural" education in the wilds of Wales, and his behavior allows Godwin to draw attention to an array of contemporary social issues. Godwin attacks the inhumanity of the early factory system, and indicts British society for its patriarchal inequities. His portrayal of Fleetwood's obsessive and devastating jealousy contributed significantly to the development of psychological realism in English fiction. As essential historical background, the editors provide reviews, and excerpts from Rousseau's writing and from Godwin's other works.
Industry Reviews
"Fleetwood has long deserved a wider audience. Its pioneering explorations--of factory labour, of the role of manipulation in pedagogy, and of obsession and spousal abuse--show Godwin ranging beyond the questions of rationality and justice that marked his earlier works. Handwerk and Markley have provided a clear and thorough account of Godwin's career and intellectual milieu. Their introduction and their well-chosen supplementary materials demonstrate Godwin's contributions to debates about politics, marriage, the rights of women, education, and travel. The appearance of Fleetwood in this scholarly edition will help readers understand Godwin's formidable reputation for good and for evil among his contemporaries, and will invite a re-evaluation in our time of his power as a thinker and a novelist."--Jeanne Moskal "Fleetwood has long deserved a wider audience. Its pioneering explorations--of factory labour, of the role of manipulation in pedagogy, and of obsession and spousal abuse--show Godwin ranging beyond the questions of rationality and justice that marked his earlier works. Handwerk and Markley have provided a clear and thorough account of Godwin's career and intellectual milieu. Their introduction and their well-chosen supplementary materials demonstrate Godwin's contributions to debates about politics, marriage, the rights of women, education, and travel. The appearance of Fleetwood in this scholarly edition will help readers understand Godwin's formidable reputation for good and for evil among his contemporaries, and will invite a re-evaluation in our time of his power as a thinker and a novelist." -- Jeanne Moskal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "Fleetwood has long deserved a wider audience. Its pioneering explorations--of factory labour, of the role of manipulation in pedagogy, and of obsession and spousal abuse--show Godwin ranging beyond the questions of rationality and justice that marked his earlier works. Handwerk and Markley have provided a clear and thorough account of Godwin's career and intellectual milieu. Their introduction and their well-chosen supplementary materials demonstrate Godwin's contributions to debates about politics, marriage, the rights of women, education, and travel. The appearance of Fleetwood in this scholarly edition will help readers understand Godwin's formidable reputation for good and for evil among his contemporaries, and will invite a re-evaluation in our time of his power as a thinker and a novelist." -- Jeanne Moskal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
