On Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) made a pioneering and influential argument for women’s equality, delivering a systematic critique of the treatment of women across time and place. Susan J. Wolfson offers new insight into how Wollstonecraft’s particular methods, style, and energy make this case for her readers. She is joined by fellow feminist scholar Maria DiBattista.

Susan J. Wolfson is professor of English at Princeton University. Her recent books include A Greeting of the Spirit, Romantic Shades and Shadows, and Reading John Keats, as well as annotated editions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Maria DiBattista specializes in twentieth century literature and film, the European novel and narrative theory. Her books include Virginia Woolf: The Fables of Anon; First Love: The Affections of Modern Fiction; and Fast Talking Dames.