Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark [Paperback]

Mary Wollstonecraft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

"Travellers who require that every nation should resemble their native country, had better stay at home," Mary Wollstonecraft wrote to her lover, Gilbert Imlay, in one of a series of letters addressed to him from her travels through Scandinavia in the summer of 1795. With a keen, withering eye, Wollstonecraft, one of the founding mothers of modern feminism, of course offers her insightful observations on the condition of womanhood in these northerly nations. But she also delights the reader with poetic portraits of the landscapes, observations on the rural and urban societies she encounters, and the particular difficulties encountered by a woman travelling alone, with only her infant daughter and a nursemaid for company... especially a woman who asks "men's questions" of those she meets along the way. First collected in book form in 1796, these letters display a strikingly modern attitude from a woman who was far ahead of her time. British writer and educator MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT (1759-1797), the mother of Frankenstein author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, espoused her then-radical feminist and liberal philosophies in such works as Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and History and Moral View of the Origins and Progress of the French Revolution (1793).

Editorial Reviews

Review

This collection brings to life a radical writer. Katie Toms, The Observer --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Book Description

These twenty-five letters, published in 1796, describe Mary Wollstonecraft's audacious trip to Scandinavia to retrieve a stolen ship for her lover Imlay. More than just a travelogue, they provide fascinating insights into the radical philosophy of this influential thinker, and the inner turmoil she was experiencing at the time. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Cosimo Classics (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596055375
• ISBN-13: 978-1596055377
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,695,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, poignant, beautifully written, September 6, 2004

By 

Puabi (Californialand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters Written during a Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (Hardcover)

I admit I am biased since I am reading this in an Email group called "18th Century Worlds", which perhaps give me more insight and perception into the world of Mary Wollstonecraft. But my Penguin edition of the book is very good, including as it does both Mary's "Short Residence" and the biography of her by her widowed husband William Godwin. Richard Holmes' introduction is a delight, situating the book in its context and also making the life of Mary accessible, and the relationships between Mary and the people of her day and age very interesting.

So back to the text of Mary's letters. If you have ever wondered what it was like to be an active, passionate, capable and brave woman at the latter end of the 18th century, when the French Revolution and the tides of Romanticism were sweeping over Europe, and challenging Enlightenment thought-- or even if you've never given a damn-- this is an attention-grabbing and engrossing account. Provided you can get over its prose, or approach it open-mindedly (which many easily bored illiterati might not be able to), you will be struck by its poetic qualities, and by Wollstonecraft's candid emotional intensity.

In the early 1790s, a poltically radical Englishwoman woman took a business trip to Scandinavia on behalf of her common-law husband, an American businessman involved in smuggling. She took with her only her young daughter, still a child, and her French maid. "Residence in Sweden" is an account of her journey written in the form of letters to the man she left behind (though this doesn't show up in the text itself, the informative introduction gives the background). Partway into her trip, she leaves her child and the nurse behind and continues on her own to regions remote and picturesque, and foreign not only to most English women of the period, but to the majority of English men as well.

Wollstonecraft goes on philosopical rambles, as the images of social life and the landscape around her remind her of her experiences in revolutionary France. The text raise many questions important to the Enlightenment philosophes, about the role of women, man's place in nature, human habits and manners. Never are we allowed to forget that we are reading the words of a flesh and blood woman who feels deeply. Many of her recollections are painful, and sometimes she is depressed. But there is always something arrestingly beautiful in what she describes, some touch of the author's vivacity and the newness and intensity of her travels, to steer one away from the melancholy, or at least to make it something more sublime.

I'm taking this one with me to college, and I foresee many re-readings. Holmes calls it Mary's best literary work: it has none of the bombast of her "Vindication of the Rights of Woman" but instead is something even more thoughtful and readable.

For companion reading I highly recommend Claire Tomalin's "Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letters Written During A Short Residence In Sweden, Norway And Denmark (1889), February 8, 2011

By 

Rumenocity "toolfool" (Troupsburg(middleofnowhere)NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Letters Written During A Short Residence In Sweden, Norway And Denmark (1889) (Hardcover)

A great book, it puts you in Scandinavia in the late 1800's and you can feel the life.
An excellent company that reproduces out of print books for the public.
Highly recommended for the brain un-dead.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scandinavian companionable settings, March 31, 2010

By 

Dag Stomberg (St. Andrews, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Mary Wollstonecraft's Scandinavian journey lasted from June to October 1795. This book consists of letters to Gilbert Imlay.
He was the father of her daughter.

The descriptions of Sweden, Norway and Denmark she saw during
this time are exceedingly conclusive and puts the reader there.

Intrigued?

A charming use of the English language {although at times genteel};
nevertheless, poignantly stimulating to a fault telling what she
experienced.

Truly a classic!

Dag Stomberg
St. Andrews, Scotland