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    Mary. A Fiction: “The beginning is always today”
    Mary. A Fiction: “The beginning is always today”
    Mary. A Fiction: “The beginning is always today”
    Ebook92 pages1 hour

    Mary. A Fiction: “The beginning is always today”

    By Mary Wollstonecraft

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    About this ebook

    Mary Wollstonecraft was born on 27th April 1759 in Spitalfields, London. Although her family had a comfortable income much was squandered by her father leading the family to become financially diminished. Wollstonecraft struck out on her own in 1778 and accepted a job as a lady's companion. Frustrated by the limited career options open to respectable yet poor women, she nonetheless decided to embark upon a career as an author. At the time, few women could support themselves by writing.

    She learned French and German and translated texts. She also wrote reviews, primarily of novels, for Johnson's periodical, the Analytical Review.

    Wollstonecraft also pursued a relationship with the artist Henry Fuseli. Boldly she proposed a platonic living arrangement with Fuseli and his wife. Fuseli's wife was shocked and the relationship was severed.

    In December 1792 she left for France to view first hand the revolutionary events that she had just celebrated in her recent ‘Vindication of the Rights of Men’ (1790) and that had brought her immediate fame.

    France declared war on Britain in February 1793 and Wollstonecraft tried to leave for Switzerland but was denied permission. Despite her sympathy for the revolution, life for Wollstonecraft was very uncomfortable.

    Having just written the ‘Rights of Woman’, Wollstonecraft determined to put her ideas to the test. She alighted on and fell passionately in love with Gilbert Imlay, an American diplomat and adventurer. By now she was disillusioned by the Revolution’s path. She thought the republic behaved slavishly to those in power while the government was 'venal' and 'brutal'. To protect Wollstonecraft from the prospect of arrest, Imlay made a false statement to the U.S. embassy in Paris that he had married her, automatically making her an American citizen. Wollstonecraft, now pregnant by Imlay, gave birth to her first child, Fanny, on 14th May 1794. She was overjoyed.

    The winter of 1794–95 was the coldest winter in over a century. Wollstonecraft and Fanny were reduced to desperate circumstances. Wollstonecraft now had to risk leaving France and did so on 7th April 1795. She sought Imlay out but he was impassive to her pleas. In May 1795 she attempted to commit suicide, but it is thought Imlay saved her life. But it was now certain that her relationship with Imlay was over. She attempted suicide for a second time but a passing stranger witnessed her jump into the Thames and rescued her.

    Gradually, Wollstonecraft returned to literary life, and to a relationship with William Godwin. Once Wollstonecraft became pregnant by him, they decided to marry so that the child would be legitimate.

    On 30th August 1797, Wollstonecraft gave birth to her second daughter, Mary. During the delivery the placenta broke apart and became infected. After several days of agony, Mary Wollstonecraft died of septicemia on 10th September 1797.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHorse's Mouth
    Release dateJul 18, 2019
    ISBN9781787807006
    Mary. A Fiction: “The beginning is always today”
    Author

    Mary Wollstonecraft

    Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was an English writer, philosopher, and feminist. Born in London, Wollstonecraft was raised in a financially unstable family. As a young woman, she became friends with Jane Arden, an intellectual and socialite, and Fanny Blood, a talented illustrator and passionate educator. After several years on her own, Wollstonecraft returned home in 1780 to care for her dying mother, after which she moved in with the Blood family and began planning live independently with Fanny. Their plan proved financially impossible, however, and Fanny soon married and moved to Portugal, where, in 1785, she died from complications of pregnancy. This inspired Wollstonecraft’s first novel, Mary: A Fiction (1788), launching her career as one of eighteenth-century England’s leading literary voices. In 1790, in response to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Wollstonecraft wrote Vindication of the Rights of Men, a political pamphlet defending the cause of the French Revolution, advocating for republicanism, and illustrating the ideals of England’s emerging middle class. Following the success of her pamphlet, Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), a groundbreaking work of political philosophy and an early feminist text that argues for the education of women as well as for the need to recognize them as rational, independent beings. The same year, Wollstonecraft travelled to France, where she lived for a year while moving in Girondist circles and observing the changes enacted by the newly established National Assembly. In 1793, she was forced to leave France as the Jacobins rose to power, executing many of Wollstonecraft’s friends and colleagues and expelling foreigners from the country. In 1797, she married the novelist and anarchist philosopher William Godwin, with whom she bore her daughter Mary, who would eventually write the novel Frankenstein (1818). Several days afterward, however, Wollstonecraft died at the age of 38 from septicemia, leaving a legacy as a pioneering feminist and unparalleled figure in English literature.

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      Book preview

      Mary. A Fiction - Mary Wollstonecraft

      Mary. A Fiction by Mary Wollstonecraft

      Mary Wollstonecraft was born on 27th April 1759 in Spitalfields, London. Although her family had a comfortable income much was squandered by her father leading the family to become financially diminished.  Wollstonecraft struck out on her own in 1778 and accepted a job as a lady's companion. Frustrated by the limited career options open to respectable yet poor women, she nonetheless decided to embark upon a career as an author. At the time, few women could support themselves by writing.

      She learned French and German and translated texts. She also wrote reviews, primarily of novels, for Johnson's periodical, the Analytical Review.

      Wollstonecraft also pursued a relationship with the artist Henry Fuseli. Boldly she proposed a platonic living arrangement with Fuseli and his wife. Fuseli's wife was shocked and the relationship was severed.

      In December 1792 she left for France to view first hand the revolutionary events that she had just celebrated in her recent ‘Vindication of the Rights of Men’ (1790) and that had brought her immediate fame.   

      France declared war on Britain in February 1793 and Wollstonecraft tried to leave for Switzerland but was denied permission. Despite her sympathy for the revolution, life for Wollstonecraft was very uncomfortable.

      Having just written the ‘Rights of Woman’, Wollstonecraft determined to put her ideas to the test. She alighted on and fell passionately in love with Gilbert Imlay, an American diplomat and adventurer. By now she was disillusioned by the Revolution’s path. She thought the republic behaved slavishly to those in power while the government was 'venal' and 'brutal'.  To protect Wollstonecraft from the prospect of arrest, Imlay made a false statement to the U.S. embassy in Paris that he had married her, automatically making her an American citizen.  Wollstonecraft, now pregnant by Imlay, gave birth to her first child, Fanny, on 14th May 1794. She was overjoyed.

      The winter of 1794–95 was the coldest winter in over a century. Wollstonecraft and Fanny were reduced to desperate circumstances. Wollstonecraft now had to risk leaving France and did so on 7th April 1795.  She sought Imlay out but he was impassive to her pleas. In May 1795 she attempted to commit suicide, but it is thought Imlay saved her life.  But it was now certain that her relationship with Imlay was over. She attempted suicide for a second time but a passing stranger witnessed her jump into the Thames and rescued her.

      Gradually, Wollstonecraft returned to literary life, and to a relationship with William Godwin.  Once Wollstonecraft became pregnant by him, they decided to marry so that the child would be legitimate.

      On 30th August 1797, Wollstonecraft gave birth to her second daughter, Mary. During the delivery the placenta broke apart and became infected. After several days of agony, Mary Wollstonecraft died of septicemia on 10th September 1797.

      Index of Contents

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      MARY

      Chapter I

      Chapter II

      Chapter III

      Chapter IV

      Chapter V

      Chapter VI

      Chapter VII

      Chapter VIII

      Chapter IX

      Chapter X

      Chapter XI

      Chapter XII

      Chapter XIII

      Chapter XIV

      Chapter XV

      Chapter XVI

      Chapter XVII

      Chapter XVIII

      Chapter XIX

      Chapter XX

      Chapter XXI

      Chapter XXII

      Chapter XXIII

      Chapter XXIV

      Chapter XXV

      Chapter XXVI

      Chapter XXVII

      Chapter XXVIII

      Chapter XXX

      Chapter XXXI

      Mary Wollstonecraft – A Short Biography

      Mary Wollstonecraft – A Concise Bibliography

      ADVERTISEMENT

      In delineating the Heroine of this Fiction, the Author attempts to develop a character different from those generally portrayed. This woman is neither a Clarissa, a Lady G—, nor a* Sophie.—It would be vain to mention the various modifications of these models, as it would to remark, how widely artists wander from nature, when they copy the originals of great masters. They catch the gross parts; but the subtile spirit evaporates; and not having the just ties, affectation disgusts, when grace was expected to charm.

      Those compositions only have power to delight, and carry us willing captives, where the soul of the author is exhibited, and animates the hidden springs. Lost in a pleasing enthusiasm, they live in the scenes they represent; and do not measure their steps in a beaten track, solicitous to gather expected flowers, and bind them in a wreath, according to the prescribed rules of art.

      These chosen few, wish to speak for themselves, and not to be an echo—even of the sweetest sounds—or the reflector of the most sublime beams. The** paradise they ramble in, must be of their own creating—or the prospect soon grows insipid, and not varied by a vivifying principle, fades and dies.

      In an artless tale, without episodes, the mind of a woman, who has thinking powers is displayed. The female organs have been thought too weak for this arduous employment; and experience seems to justify the assertion. Without arguing physically about possibilities—in a fiction, such a being may be allowed to exist; whose grandeur is derived from the operations of its own faculties, not subjugated to opinion; but drawn by the individual from the original source.

      FOOTNOTES:

      *Rousseau.

      **I here give the Reviewers an opportunity of being very witty about the Paradise of Fools, &c.

      MARY

      CHAPTER I

      Mary, the heroine of this fiction, was the daughter of Edward, who married Eliza, a gentle, fashionable girl, with a kind of indolence in her temper, which might be termed negative good-nature: her virtues, indeed, were all of that stamp. She carefully attended to the shews of things, and her opinions, I should have said prejudices, were such as the generality approved of. She was educated with the expectation of a large fortune, of course became a mere machine: the homage of her attendants made a great part of her puerile amusements, and she never imagined there were any relative duties for her to fulfil: notions of her own consequence, by these means, were interwoven in her mind, and the years of youth spent in acquiring a few superficial accomplishments, without having any taste for them. When she was first introduced into the polite circle, she danced with an officer, whom she faintly wished to be united to; but her father soon after recommending another in a more distinguished rank of life, she readily submitted to his will, and promised to love, honour, and obey, (a vicious fool,) as in duty bound.

      While they resided in London, they lived in the usual fashionable style, and seldom saw each other; nor were they much more sociable when they wooed rural felicity for more than half the year, in a delightful country, where Nature, with lavish hand, had scattered beauties around; for the master, with brute, unconscious gaze, passed them by unobserved, and sought amusement in country sports. He hunted in the morning, and after eating an immoderate dinner, generally fell asleep: this seasonable rest enabled him to digest the cumbrous load; he would then visit some of his pretty tenants; and when he compared their ruddy glow of health with his wife's countenance, which even rouge could not enliven, it is not necessary to say which a gourmand would give the preference to. Their vulgar dance of spirits were infinitely more agreeable to his fancy than her sickly, die-away languor. Her voice was but the shadow of a sound, and she had, to complete her delicacy, so relaxed her nerves, that she became a mere nothing.

      Many such noughts are there in the female world! yet she had a good opinion of her own merit,—truly, she said long prayers,—and sometimes read her Week's Preparation: she dreaded that horrid place vulgarly called hell, the regions below; but whether her's was a mounting spirit, I cannot pretend to determine; or what sort of a planet would have been proper for her, when she left her material part in this world, let metaphysicians settle; I have nothing to say to her unclothed spirit.

      As she was sometimes obliged to be alone, or only with her French waiting-maid,

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