The Big Idea
Mary Wollstonecraft writes through the height of the French Revolution, initially fueled by a 'lightsome' affection for American speculator Gilbert Imlay. As she navigates the birth of their child in a chaotic Paris, the tone shifts from domestic tenderness to agonizing suspense. Imlay’s business excuses grow thin, leaving Mary to manage her 'sinking of the heart' and a toddler while traveling through Sweden and Norway on his behalf. The text reveals the visceral vulnerability of a woman who championed reason but found herself trapped by a 'sacred' affection for a man who eventually preferred the company of others, leading to her final, sharp departure from his life.
Who's named
- Mary Wollstonecraft
The writer navigating single motherhood and emotional abandonment.
- Gilbert Imlay
An American speculator and the increasingly indifferent recipient of the letters.
- Fanny
The 'little girl' whose welfare becomes a central concern.
- Roger Ingpen
The editor providing the prefatory memoir for this 1908 edition.
What it's really about
- Emotional Dependence
- The conflict between feminist reason and the pain of unrequited devotion.
- Domesticity in Exile
- Raising a child amidst revolutionary unrest and solitary travel.
Why it's memorable
- Wollstonecraft describing the 'gentle twitches' of her unborn child while alone in Paris.
- The image of her opening a long-awaited envelope only to find six hasty business lines.
What it concludes
She concludes that while his animal desires may shift, her own purity of affection has survived his sarcasms, allowing her to part in peace.
For your book club
- Does Mary’s vulnerability in these letters contradict her earlier philosophical arguments for female independence?
- How does the backdrop of the French Revolution heighten the stakes of Imlay’s personal neglect?