William Godwin, Deloraine

Graham Allen (University College Cork)
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Deloraine

is Godwin’s last novel. It was published when Godwin, then 76, was experiencing a dynamic new period in his awesomely long literary career:

Cloudseley

(1830),

Thoughts on Man

(1831),

Lives of the Necromancers

(1834) are all major works published during this period. The connection between Godwin’s novel and the story (including its literary representation) of Eugene Aram is well known. Aram had been a scholar and teacher who had murdered his friend mistakenly believing him to be having an affair with his wife. Aram lived for another fourteen years before his secret was discovered and he was brought to justice. Thomas Hood had published a poem on the subject in 1829 and Godwin’s interest in the story seems to have led his younger friend and fellow novelist, Edward Bulwer to…

2311 words

Citation: Allen, Graham. "Deloraine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5671, accessed 28 March 2024.]

5671 Deloraine 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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