- Paperback: 449 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classic (Mar 29 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0141441232
- ISBN-13: 978-0141441238
- Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 1.9 x 19.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 322 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #271,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
When honest young Caleb Williams comes to work as a secretary for Squire Falkland, he soon begins to suspect that his new master is hiding a terrible secret. But as he digs deeper into Falkland's past and finally unearths the guilty truth, the results of his curiosity prove calamitous when even though Caleb has loyally sworn never to disclose what he has discovered the Squire enacts a cruel revenge. A tale of gripping suspense and psychological power, William Godwin's novel creates a searing depiction of the intolerable persecution meted out to a good man in pursuit of justice and equality. Written to expose the political oppression and corrupt hierarchies its author saw in the world around him, Caleb Williams (1794) makes a radical call to end the tyrannical misuses of power.
About the Author
William Godwin was an important figure in the transition from Enlightenment thinking to Romanticism during the early nineteenth century. A radical philosopher, novelist, historian, and progressive educationalist, he was in East Anglia in 1756 and trained for five years for the Dissenting ministry at Hoxton Academy, before abandoning a career as a minister to become a writer. The lover of Mary Wollstonecraft, his followers included Wordsworth, Coleridge and Shelley, and Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were all influenced by his work. He died in London in 1836. Maurice Hindle divides his time between freelance writing and teaching for the Open University. He has also edited Frankenstein for the Penguin Classics.
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First Sentence
MY life has for several years been a theatre of calamity. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
MY life has for several years been a theatre of calamity. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Man is the only common foe of man, Aug 3 2006
By Luc REYNAERT - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Penguin Classics Caleb Williams (Paperback)
This novel is a forceful combination of political / social / judicial criticism, thriller elements and a powerful investigation into the real nature of man.Politically, the author castigates the chasm between what one ought to do and reality: `We that are rich must do every thing in our power to lighten the yoke of these unfortunate people. We must not use the advantage that accident has given us with an unmerciful hand.' Nevertheless, `wealth and despotism easily know how to engage those laws as the coadjutor of their oppression, which were perhaps at first intended for the safeguards of the poor.'
Justice is totally biased: `Mr. Falkland is a man of rank and fortune; he is your master. I am a poor country lad without a friend in the world. That is a ground of real difference ...but it is not a sufficient ground for the subversion of justice.'
But, `law has neither eyes, nor ears, nor bowels of humanity; and it turns into marble the hearts of all those that are nursed in its principle.'
Socially, the system is fundamentally corrupt, a synonym for `tyranny and perfidiousness exercised by the powerful members of the community against those who were less privileged than themselves.'
Godwin's vision of the world is pessimistic: `Accursed world! that hates without a cause' that overwhelms innocence with calamities which ought to be spared even to guilt! Accursed world! dead to every manly sympathy; with eyes of horn, and hearts of steel!'
His picture of fundamental human selfishness, of pure evil and of despotic and resentful emotions and actions is impressive. He is baffled by man's `hero'worship: `Man is surely a strange sort of creature, who never praise any one more heartily than him who has spread destruction and ruin over the face of nature.'
He sees however one bright spot: freedom of the mind: `The mind is master of itself; and is endowed with powers that might enable to laugh at the tyrant's vigilance.'
The novel has one minus point: its final with an ultimate reversal in the psychological warfare. It seems incredible and improbable (a destruction by suspicion).
However, it is a very compelling read, a real discovery.
Not to be missed.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful Exploration of Crime and Punishment, July 5 2010
By Lon I. Chaifetz - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Penguin Classics Caleb Williams (Paperback)
The real question is who committed the crime and who is being punished. This novel is proof to the old saying that the more things change the more they stay the same. The powerful bring down the less powerful then as now. This strongly written novel should be mandatory reading, particularly those interested in writers such as Poe and Dickens. Godwin had great influence on their later writings and was instrumental in the evolution of modern day mysteries and detective stories.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic psycological thriller, Oct 1 2010
By Joshua D. Beachy "heyimaghost" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Penguin Classics Caleb Williams (Paperback)
Caleb Williams is a much overlooked novel these days, though when reading it, it's impossible not to see it's influence on modern crime drama--especially the "innocent acused" motif. Aside from that obvious influence, the novel as well as the author went on to influence a wide range of writers, from classic Vitorian novelists to the modern thriller writer (even if some weren't aware of it). But influence alone is not always a good reason to read something.One word I've heard quite often to describe this story is "fierce." It's a good term for not only the story, but the concept Godwin was trying to express. Justice is a fierce thing, but no where near as fierce as injustice; and that's truly what this story is driven by: injustice. Mr. Falkland evades justice and Caleb cannot seem to find it. Caleb becomes a criminal, hunted for a crime he did not commit.
But Caleb Williams is a few things beyond the basic plot, which one can read directly from Amazon. It is a psycological novel. Throughout the story we are inside the mind of Caleb, and it is a stunning picture he paints of himself and of others. But I for one couldn't help but question the honesty of that picture. Even in the first Volume when he is recounting the early life of Mr. Falkland, we cannot be sure that there isn't something Caleb neglected to tell us or something he purposely changed. For that, the novel is a perfect study for anyone looking for unreliable narrators. Also, the novel is philosophical. Thoroughout we are feed lines about justice, humanity, and other morals the author wants to convey. This should be little of a problem for most people, considering the things Godwin is propogating are almost universaly considered proper today.
I do have one complaint about the book, which is this: Godwin is too wordy in his style. I love novels from this period, so I'm used to their general style, but Godwin's style is more akin to a philosophical essay than a novel. It can be disracting, and often I would go from completely enthralled to completely bored in the middle of a paragraph. This is the most notable in the first volume, but the story picks up heavy pace in the second, with a few lulls. By the time the third volume begins, it becomes very hard to put down until the end.
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