A Fantasy Of Reason: The Life And Thought Of William Godwin
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
At the heart of the radical Enlightenment stood William Godwin — philosopher, novelist, and anarchist thinker whose audacious ideas electrified late eighteenth-century Britain and whose turbulent personal life proved equally extraordinary. A Fantasy of Reason chronicles the full arc of Godwin's remarkable existence, from his early dissenting ministry through his celebrated authorship of Political Justice and Caleb Williams, to his passionate marriage to feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft and his complex relationship with the Romantic poets who called him their intellectual father. Don Locke presents a richly researched and compellingly argued study that situates Godwin at the crossroads of politics, philosophy, and literary culture, illuminating the contradictions of a man who preached pure rationalism yet lived by his passions. Writing with scholarly precision and genuine narrative flair, Locke uncovers the tensions between Godwin's soaring theoretical idealism and the messy realities of his daily life, crafting a portrait that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply human. For anyone captivated by the revolutionary ferment of the Romantic age, this biography raises a question that still resonates: can reason alone ever be sufficient guide to a well-lived life?
Author: Don Locke
Format: Hardback
Published: 1980, Routledge & Kegan Paul
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
At the heart of the radical Enlightenment stood William Godwin — philosopher, novelist, and anarchist thinker whose audacious ideas electrified late eighteenth-century Britain and whose turbulent personal life proved equally extraordinary. A Fantasy of Reason chronicles the full arc of Godwin's remarkable existence, from his early dissenting ministry through his celebrated authorship of Political Justice and Caleb Williams, to his passionate marriage to feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft and his complex relationship with the Romantic poets who called him their intellectual father. Don Locke presents a richly researched and compellingly argued study that situates Godwin at the crossroads of politics, philosophy, and literary culture, illuminating the contradictions of a man who preached pure rationalism yet lived by his passions. Writing with scholarly precision and genuine narrative flair, Locke uncovers the tensions between Godwin's soaring theoretical idealism and the messy realities of his daily life, crafting a portrait that is both intellectually rigorous and deeply human. For anyone captivated by the revolutionary ferment of the Romantic age, this biography raises a question that still resonates: can reason alone ever be sufficient guide to a well-lived life?