William Godwin
Godwin's Political Justice is the founding text of philosophical anarchism, arguing that rational individuals need no government. He was Mary Wollstonecraft's husband and Mary Shelley's father, making him the center of one of England's most remarkable literary families.
Works
- Caleb WilliamsPolitical thriller of a young radical pursued by his exploitative employer across England
- St. LeonNovel exploring power and immortality through a man's encounter with an alchemical seeker
- FleetwoodNovel of a man's alienation and misanthropy as he navigates wealth and solitude
- MandevilleNovel exploring jealousy and murder through the paranoid thoughts of a deranged protagonist
- Cloudesley
- An Enquiry Concerning Political JusticePhilosophical treatise arguing for rational anarchism and the perfectibility of society
- The EnquirerEssays on the improvement of understanding and the pursuit of knowledge
- Lives of the Necromancers