About
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was an English writer and philosopher, a pioneer of feminism. Self-taught, she worked as a governess and then as a translator and critic for the radical periodical The Analytical Review. Her major work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), argues for gender equality and women's access to education. She lived in Paris during the French Revolution and published political writings. Married to William Godwin in 1797, she died from complications of childbirth. Her daughter, Mary Shelley, would become famous for Frankenstein.
* 1759-04-27 — † 1797-09-10
Major works
- Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)essay
- Mary: A Fiction (1788)novel
- A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)political pamphlet
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)philosophical essay
- Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman (1798)unfinished novel
Key milestones
- 1792Publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a foundational text of modern feminism.
- 1792-1795Residence in Paris during the French Revolution, where she witnessed the Terror.
- 1797Marriage to William Godwin; birth of Mary Shelley, future author of Frankenstein.
Themes
women's rightseducationgender equalityreason and virtuesocial criticism
Sources: rep.routledge.com · oxfordbibliographies.com
