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 Title page to the volume of the Posthumous Works that contained Maria | |
| Author | Mary Wollstonecraft |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Joseph Johnson |
| Publication date | 1798 |
| Publication place | Britain |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman is an unfinished novel by Mary Wollstonecraft; it was published posthumously in 1798 by her husband William Godwin and is often considered her most radical work. In it she details many of "the wrongs of woman" not only on an individual level but also on a social level as well. The protagonist, Maria, is imprisoned in an asylum by her profligate husband in order to steal her money; sadly, her child is stolen from her as well. While in the asylum, Maria meets and perhaps falls in love with a man named Darnford, but because the novel is incomplete, it is unclear whether Wollstonecraft intended to resolve the romantic subplot happily or tragically. Maria also befriends one of the nurses, Jemima, who, like Maria herself, has a harrowing tale to tell of married life. Jemima's tale gives Wollstonecraft an opportunity to show the bonds between women of different classes. This is thus one of the first moments in the history of feminist literature that hints at a cross-class argument, that is, that women of different economic positions have the same interests because they are women.
Notes
- Taylor, Barbara. Mary Wollstonecraft and the Feminist Imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2003), Chapter 9.
- Kelly, Gary. English Fiction of the Romantic Period. London: Longman (1989), 4.
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