William Godwin – Caleb Williams

William Godwin – Caleb Williams   (Four Square, June 1966)

Blurb

WILLIAM GODWIN, renowned as he is for this masterpiece, Caleb Williams is probably even better known as the father of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who was the creator of the greatest of all horror stories, Frankenstein. Born in 1756, Godwin had a Christian upbringing but suddenly and inexplicably turned ‘complete unbeliever’ in 1787. He took up writing and set out deliberately to attack all the standards of society — much of his energy concentrated on marriage, which he called ‘the worst of all laws’. He also attacked the powers of landlords and spearheaded his campaign with this book. To support himself and his family he ran a bookselling business which gradually pushed him further and further into debt until finally he sought a job in the civil service. In later life his writing became less antagonistic — and less successful. He died in 1836.