The intimate tone of these letters, edited from genuine correspondence and left with “me” and “you” intact, helped them feel fresh and accessible over 200 years later. They are vital and immediate, coming from a real person and seemingly directed right at the reader. I only wish the descriptions of sights, food, clothes, etc were more detailed and less generalized.

"It is so delightful to love our fellow-creatures, and meet the honest affections as they break forth. Still, my good friend, I begin to think that I should not like to live continually in the country with people whose minds have such a narrow range." (p.15)"...I feel more than a mother's fondness and anxiety when I reflect on the dependent and oppressed state of her sex. I dread lest she should be forced to sacrifice her heart to her principles, or principles to her heart." (p.24)"Marguerite an...

I have a tricky relationship with Mary Wollstonecraft. Although I have great admiration for her work and ideas, I don't actually like reading her books. I've read fiction, non-fiction and now this collection of letters. This was my favourite so far, as I felt we got a small glimpse of her private life and convictions, in-between a lot of recounting of Scandinavian life and landscapes. At times it was quite sad, considering who she was writing to and why she was abroad in the first place, but the...

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.

This epistolary travel narrative, reads almost like an anthropological treatise, especially in its examination of the minutiae of everyday Northern European life, with a focus on the subject and treatment of women. Also, there is a concentrated effort in writing about the woes of early capitalism. In Letter Nineteen, Wollstonecraft writes: “And I am persuaded that till capital punishments are entirely abolished executions ought to have every appearance of horror given to them, instead of being,

I probably bought this book because of its cover, not the only time I've bought a book purely on the strength of Caspar David Friedrich. A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway & Denmark is written in the form of twenty-five letters, possibly originally composed as a travel journal, in places it seems that they are addressed to Gilbert Imlay, who had been more or less her husband, and published in 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft's intention was simply to endeavour to give a just view of the present state

This was the book Percy Shelley read to Mary Shelley when they were travelling together through France, introducing her to the mother she never knew. Another generation, and still waiting for Europe to be saved by radical revolution. But it was the obvious choice, as this was probably the Mary Wollstonecraft book that had the most enthusiastic reception at the time, and it's easy to see why: it has a nice mixture of travel observations, political theorising, personal reflection and social commen...

A series of 25 letters sent by proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft to her ex-lover Gilbert Imlay, describing a visit to Scandinavia in 1797. (The last few letters are written from north-west Germany). Wollstonecraft made this journey to represent Imlay in a dispute he had with business contacts, presumably in the hope of winning back his affections. She travelled with her maidservant and with her baby daughter Fanny Imlay.This collection contains only the letters sent by Wollstonecraft to Imlay,

I have read The Vindication for the Rights of Woman several times, and though as a modern feminist I cannot agree with all Wollstonecraft says, I always feel very strongly when reading it, and am convinced of Wollstonecraft's daring, intelligence and strength. Reading this collection of letters was, therefore, something of a disappointment.As I described it to a friend, Mary Wollstonecraft suddenly turns out to be a sort of proto-Lady Catherine de Bourgh, commenting on everything, giving her opi...

In 1795, while French armies roamed over Europe, Mary Wollstonecraft set off for Scandinavia, baby daughter and nursemaid in tow, where English travellers were very rare and lone female travellers unheard of. These letters, edited from those she sent to Gilbert Imlay (the American father of her child and all-round unreliable cad), show her to be a warm-hearted, intelligent observer, alive to natural beauty, passionate about politics, and alternately hopeful and despairing of the future (both her...

I love the way Wollstonecraft describes the natural world. You can see her influence on the Romantic generation. I also love her feminist ideas, she really was way ahead of her time. I don't think this is a book you could sit down with and read for fun, but for the ideas she puts forth for equality between the sexes, this is definitely a book to read if you're interested in eighteenth-century gender relations, Romanticism and the Enlightenment.

A fine collection of journal entries and correspondences from Wollstonecraft’s journeys. Nothing profound, but it does illuminate just how entrenched the Romantics were in their philosophy. Whether musing on a Swedish stone or a Norwegian funeral rite, Wollstonecraft interacts with the world as if it’s a blank sheet of paper. Read if you want to flex on your friends. It’s the literary equivalent of a deep-cut.

The art of travel is only a branch of the art of thinking.Mary Wollstonecraft 1790A hybrid of letters, travel writing, and commentary on society, political organization, women's rights, nature, and more, this was Wollstonecraft's most popular work during her own lifetime, and provided her with much-needed income during a time she was struggling with the challenges of being a single mother in late eighteenth-century England.It is worth spending some time learning more about Wollstonecraft's life

I read this one based on a friend's review of another edition. It is not my normal reading fare and I was quite pleased with what I found in these pages.It was obvious from the start that Wollstonecraft was a very strong and determined woman, independent and intelligent to the max. The book is based on letters she wrote to her lover/common-law husband whose business interests she was pursuing during her travels in the Scandinavian countries. I doubt that she intended that they be published.This

3.5 starsThis was interesting to meA/ because of whom it was written byB/ because I was reading it relating to a group theme.It was interesting reading about life and travel more than 200 years ago. Wollstonecraft had an astute eye for detail. There are many digressions in the book, some of more interest than others.

An interesting record of a intrepid adventurer. I didn't enjoy this quite as much as I had hoped, but my expectations were high. There were a lot of brilliant insights into 18th century society and politics, and many of Wollstonecraft's reflections, particularly about women in society, still apply today. I didn't like some of her critiques, which often sounded Puritanical and detached. Also her commentary on Nature began inspiring but after a while became a bit too whimsical and repetitive.

The dearth of pre-1800 travel literature for this region and the authorship of these 25 short letters (22 on topic) make them significant. In 1795 Mary Wollstonecraft learned that, in her absence, her “husband” (as registered in France but not fully legal) was living with an actress. Shortly after, she made the trip described in these letters with their infant daughter on his behalf. Her mission, to track down Gilbert Imlay’s “partner” and missing cargo, is not mentioned in the letters. Her brok...

I had a little trouble getting into these Scandinavian letters that didn't take me away at first sight and I understood why in letter XX: Mary Wollstonecraft lacks the freedom and humour of a Gautier Theophile or nan Alexandre Dumas when they were writing their own travel stories. This may be due to the nature of MW, but it is also due to the fact that she is a woman. Let me explain:Although she had already written The Vindication of the Rights of Women, MW, in my very humble opinion, does not s...

I tried really hard to like this book, Wollstonecraft being considered the first modern feminist, but I found my attention flagging during her 'observations'. I know its not intellectual to say so but I love reading for a good plot. And this book was lacking it. Also, on another note, I found Wollstonecraft's tone of feminism disagreeable. I didn't really see the necessity of describing how fat and ugly the women of Sweden were...