Mary Wollstonecraft and Me

Yesterday was the first day of my British Literature survey class, and yesterday, in addition to doing the first day syllabus review, I talked about the revolutionary winds of the late 1700's.  I was doing some intro work to Mary Wollstonecraft, particularly her A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

I talked about the ideas of human rights that were in their infancy in the 1700's and reminded students that we were not at a human rights for all moment of humanity.  No indeed--and along comes Mary Wollstonecraft to argue that women should have rights too, the same rights that people like William Godwin and Thomas Jefferson argued that men should have.  Not all men, of course:  white men, landowning men.

I talked about how now, her argument seems fairly obvious and/or straight forward and maybe even obvious:  educate women, and they'll be better mothers. Educate women, and they'll be better wives, companions to their husbands rather than mere ornaments. Nothing too shocking there.

And then I paused, a bit gut punched to realize how many rights for women have been rolled back in the past few years.  So I also talked about that. 

This morning, I'm thinking about Mary Wollstonecraft anew; I've written about her before in this blog post.  I'm remembering when one of my favorite grad school professors gave me a copy of the Norton edition of Vindication, along with a note that said she had an extra copy and thought of me.  I felt thrilled--a copy of my own, and proof that my professor might like me.  I may still have it in a box somewhere.

I'm thinking of all the times I've taught this work, through the years, and how long it's been since I taught it--the last time was probably in 2001.  At some point, I assumed I would likely never teach this literature again. I'm so glad that I was wrong.