Reaching Out

I hate it when there's so much stuff out there but so little in my own library.


Family Feuds: Wollstonecraft, Burke, and Rousseau on the Transformation of the Family
Botting, Eileen Hunt
Albany, NY: State U of New York P, 2006. viii, 257 pp.
9780791467053
King's College library (currently in processing)


Mary Wollstonecraft and the "Reserve of Reason"
Simon Swift. Studies in Romanticism. Boston: Spring 2006.Vol. 45, Iss. 1; pg. 3, 23 pgs
People: Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-97)
Author(s): Simon Swift
Document types: Feature
Document features: References
Publication title: Studies in Romanticism. Boston: Spring 2006. Vol. 45, Iss. 1; pg. 3, 23 pgs
Found the PDF document on Literature Online


Wollstonecraft, Rousseau and the Revision of Romantic Subjectivity
Yousef, Nancy
Studies in Romanticism, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 537-57, Winter 1999
Found on Literature Online

Wollstonecraft and Rousseau: The Gendered Fate of Political Theorists
Weiss, Penny A.
Falco, Maria J. (ed.)
Falco, Maria J. (ed.). 1996. Feminist Interpretations of Mary Wollstonecraft. (pp. 15-32). University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State UP, 234 pp.
Borrowed out from all libraries at current. Due in MSVU library today, so I'll order it tomorrow.

Wollstonecraft versus Rousseau: Natural Religion and the Sex of Virtue and Reason
Butler, Melissa A.
Mell, Donald C., Jr. (ed. & pref.); Braun, Theodore E. D. (ed.); Palmer, Lucia M. (ed.)
1988. Man, God, and Nature in the Enlightenment. (pp. 65-73). East Lansing, MI: Colleagues, xv, 247 pp.
Item status: SMU General Loan (25) Call number: CB 411 M273 1988


And because I have no idea what's going on otherwise if I'm comparing Rousseau and Wollstonecraft, I'm going to look for his book, Emile.
Rousseau - Emile
LB 512 E5 F6 1961

I've always been a fan of Wollstonecraft - I read the Vindication of the Rights of Women a couple of years ago for no particular reason other than I thought it would be interesting to read. I had no idea what period she belonged in then, only knew it was written in the 1800s. She is a Romantic, and thus, in her way, a Revolutionary, as she was writing in response to others writing in response to the French Revolution and in England, they themselves were itching for a Revolution.

Nevertheless, the Vindication of the Rights of Women is a messily written piece of work, done in really short order and spurred on by her publisher to get it done ASAP because it followed the Vindication of the Rights of Men, an earlier work which was also reactionary to other writings by her contemporaries, notably Edmund Burke.

I do have to read all these other contemporaries to understand what the hell she's talking about, but the basic gists in the Vindication of the Rights of Women are clear: men and women have to be given equal education. Women must not be treated like dolls. She attacks her gender scathingly, for their frivolity and all-round general dumbness, even though she knows they're like that due to their circumstances. She goes for negative stereotypes: the rich lazy aristocratic woman, the blue stockings, the conniving socialite.

Analysts have pointed out how she only focuses on the negative stereotypes, and never on the positive examples of womanly virtue in her life, such as the female friendships she cultivated. They have also looked at the inconsistencies in her writing, but none of these sections in the chapters have really been enough for me to write a 3000 word paper on.

However, I do think there is some issue I could possibly tackle: M. Wollstonecraft attacking M. Rosseau, in the fifth chapter of her VRW. She quotes a great deal from his Sophie and basically lets loose her spleen on his ideas.

Some have called her inconsistent that she should attack Rosseau because in general, she admires him. I think, however, that she was making a good argument, for her time and place in life, because what Rosseau was basically doing was to degrade women into dolls and children, something which of course Wollstonecraft would take offense to, since she, despite all her attacks on women, identifies herself as a woman.

What I want to do in this paper is basically analyse Wollstonecraft's argument against Rosseau, and I'm going to argue that Wollstonecraft's attacks were perfectly justified and are a hallmark for women's rights, because Rosseau's ideals persist even today. I will look at the circumstances for her attack, being that at the time, women were idealized in an infantile manner and not given credit as human beings. Exceptions to this rule were considered heroines of their time, but Wollstonecraft says in a footnote, "I do not wish for women to be seen as heroines or brutes, but as reasonable creatures."

This paper will look at different stances on the Wollstonecraft/Rosseau issue, and seek out comparisons between the two of these great Romantics. Wollstonecraft attacked Rosseau for his ideals in Sophie, disagreeing that women should be infantile and uneducated.

I have to write a 100-word abstract on what this paper is going to be about, which is really stupid because normally abstracts come AFTER the paper. But, the paper is subject to change at any point in time and the prof knows it.

What is also annoying is the prof's instructions: take three established critical stances on a specific issue and analyze them, and then add our own opinion.

THIS ISN'T A FUCKING RESEARCH PAPER. I'll tell you that right off. This is what we call a Literature Review.

Oh, fuck, this is such a piss-off of an assignment.

This paper will look at critical reviews and analyses of Mary Wollstonecraft's attack on Rosseau's Sophie in Chapter five of the Vindication of the Rights of Women. First, it will discuss the circumstances that led to the ideal of Sophie, and the biographical reasons for Wollstonecraft's indignant fury that she displays in the Vindication. Then it will discuss how Rosseau is attacked and how strong Wollstonecraft's arguments are in terms of writing style and discussion. Finally, it will on the history of the Vindication's reception among her contemporaries.


...


Scratch that.

This paper will look at critical reviews and analyses of Mary Wollstonecraft's attack on Emile Rosseau's Sophie in Chapter V of the Vindication of the Rights of Women. First, it will discuss the circumstances that led to the ideal of Sophie, and the biographical reasons for Wollstonecraft's indignant fury that she displays in the Vindication. Then it will evaluate how Rosseau is attacked and how strong Wollstonecraft's arguments are in terms of writing style and discussion. The paper will also touch on Wollstonecraft’s inconsistencies in her writing. Finally, it will on the history of the Vindication's reception among her contemporaries.