William Godwin, Fleetwood; or The New Man of Feeling

Graham Allen (University College Cork)
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Readers of William Godwin's third novel tend nowadays to view it, like the earlier

St Leon

(1799), as an attempt to respond to the influence of Mary Wollstonecraft. Whether this view of these novels is accurate or not, it can be stated that the sub-title of the novel indicates an involvement with and examination of the notion of sensibility so important in a number of Wollstonecraft's work. As Pamela Clemit notes, in her introduction to the Pickering

Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin

: “Although the novel's sub-title alludes to Henry Mackenzie's celebrated sentimental novel,

The Man of Feeling

(1771), the plot of marital jealousy in the third volume derives from Mackenzie's

Julia de Roubigné

(1777), an English reworking of Rousseau's

La Nouvelle Héloïse

(1761), and from…

2552 words

Citation: Allen, Graham. "Fleetwood; or The New Man of Feeling". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5116, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5116 Fleetwood; or The New Man of Feeling 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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