A Man of Feelings

Abstract

William Godwin is remembered as one of the leading radical philosophers in late Enlightenment England. His three-volume Enquiry Concerning Political Justice remains one of the most compelling accounts of the philosophy of anarchy in the English language. Godwin wrote other tracts and treatises on a number of issues in political and moral philosophy. And he wrote novels, too; increasingly so in later life. In the wake of the apparent demise of English radical ism, like many of his more politically engaged compatriots, Godwin saw literature as the most effective means of perpetuating this radical tradition. This article discusses a number of Godwin’s novels, at the same time providing a broader contextual introduction to late Enlightenment political romanticism.