Books by Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Men and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
by Mary Wollstonecraft, edited by Sylvana Tomaselli
“She writes what I think is an extraordinary work. It’s written in about two weeks. At first, it’s anonymous. The second edition bears her name. It’s a mix of all kinds of things but attacking Burke is her starting point. She attacks him for being disrespectful to a well-respected minister. The most surprising thing happens in that text: because of Burke’s critique of the appropriation of Church property, she latches onto property. She focuses on marriage and how society’s obsession with property and its accumulation distorts the relationship between parents and children, and between men and women.” Read more...
The Best Mary Wollstonecraft Books
Sylvana Tomaselli, Historian
“I once asked a friend who likes women what effect those letters would have on a man and he said they would make him run a mile. It did not work as a way of endearing herself to a scoundrel. But Godwin said the opposite, he said it made one fall in love with the reader. In any event, it was influential on travel writing and on the Romantics, the German Romantics in particular. It influenced Coleridge. She writes about being in various places in Scandinavia and being astonished at the lack of curiosity of some people when the ship approaches. She talks about the theater. It’s a travel report. You were saying earlier that she’s quite modern. The way in which travel literature has taken off in the last 50 years is extraordinary. Every newspaper, apart from recipes, has to have a huge travel section. That’s what she did when she wrote these letters.” Read more...
The Best Mary Wollstonecraft Books
Sylvana Tomaselli, Historian
Interviews where books by Mary Wollstonecraft were recommended
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1
Reflections on the Revolution in France
by Edmund Burke -
2
A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful
by Edmund Burke -
3
A Vindication of the Rights of Men and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
by Mary Wollstonecraft, edited by Sylvana Tomaselli -
4
Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
by Mary Wollstonecraft -
5
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
by Adam Smith
The Best Mary Wollstonecraft Books, recommended by Sylvana Tomaselli
The Best Mary Wollstonecraft Books, recommended by Sylvana Tomaselli
Mary Wollstonecraft lived by her pen and wrote trenchant critiques of the role of women and marriage in late 18th century British society. She died aged 38, a few days after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley. She is often remembered for writing the Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but it was not in fact her best book, says Cambridge intellectual historian Sylvana Tomaselli. Here, she recommends books to read to get a good understanding of the extraordinary Mary Wollstonecraft, and the writers she was both influenced by and reacting against.
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1
Mountain Gloom And Mountain Glory: The Development of the Aesthetics of the Infinite
by Marjorie Hope Nicolson -
2
Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
by Mary Wollstonecraft -
3
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau -
4
The Art of Travel
by Alain de Botton -
5
How to Talk About Places You've Never Been: On the Importance of Armchair Travel
by Michele Hutchison (translator) & Pierre Bayard
The Best Books on the Philosophy of Travel, recommended by Emily Thomas
The Best Books on the Philosophy of Travel, recommended by Emily Thomas
At its best, travel broadens our minds, expands our horizons and allows us to see the world we live in differently. But it has also played an important role in the history of philosophy. Emily Thomas, author of The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad, explores the connections between her two passions—philosophy and travel—at a moment when most of us are unable to leave our houses: perhaps the perfect moment to reflect on travel’s significance for human beings.
