The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Name Authority File (LCNAF)

Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797


  • [Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationships, received more attention than her writing. After two ill-fated affairs, with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay (by whom she had a daughter, Fanny Imlay), Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the forefathers of the anarchist movement. Wollstonecraft died at the age of 38, eleven days after giving birth to her second daughter, leaving behind several unfinished manuscripts. This daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, became an accomplished writer herself, as Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. After Wollstonecraft's death, her widower published a Memoir (1798) of her life, revealing her unorthodox lifestyle, which inadvertently destroyed her reputation for almost a century. However, with the emergence of the feminist movement at the turn of the 20th century, Wollstonecraft's advocacy of women's equality and critiques of conventional femininity became increasingly important. Today Wollstonecraft is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers, and feminists often cite both her life and work as important influences.]
  • URI(s)

  • Variants

    • Cresswick, Mr., 1759-1797
    • Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797
  • Additional Information

    • Birth Date

        1759-04-27
    • Death Date

        1797-09-10
    • Birth Place

        London (England)
    • Associated Language

        English
    • Field of Activity

      Authors

      Women's rights

  • Exact Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Sources

    • found: Her Original stories from real life, 1803.
    • found: Godwin, W. Memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft, 1972:p. 45 (Mary Wollstonecraft compiled a series of extracts which bears the title The female reader)
    • found: BLC:v. 354, p. 387 (Wollstonecraft, afterwards Godwin (Mary))
    • found: Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, c2013:title page (Mary Wollstonecraft) page 14 (born in London, 1759; ladies' companion, author, political writer; author of Thoughts on the education of daughters, 1787) page 17 (married to William Godwin; died in August 1797)
    • found: The Female reader, 1789:t.p. (Mr. Cresswick)
    • found: Wikipedia, 9 November 2017(Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759-10 September 1797) was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft
  • LC Classification

    • PR5841.W8
  • General Notes

    • [Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationships, received more attention than her writing. After two ill-fated affairs, with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay (by whom she had a daughter, Fanny Imlay), Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the forefathers of the anarchist movement. Wollstonecraft died at the age of 38, eleven days after giving birth to her second daughter, leaving behind several unfinished manuscripts. This daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, became an accomplished writer herself, as Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. After Wollstonecraft's death, her widower published a Memoir (1798) of her life, revealing her unorthodox lifestyle, which inadvertently destroyed her reputation for almost a century. However, with the emergence of the feminist movement at the turn of the 20th century, Wollstonecraft's advocacy of women's equality and critiques of conventional femininity became increasingly important. Today Wollstonecraft is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers, and feminists often cite both her life and work as important influences.]
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  • Change Notes

    • 1979-01-16: new
    • 2023-09-08: revised
  • Alternate Formats