The Plays of William Godwin

Best known for "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice" (1793) and "Caleb Williams" (1794), William Godwin (1756-1836) is one of the most important figures of the Romantic period. Godwin was an avid theatre-goer, making as many as 70 theatre trips in a season. He wrote four plays; "Antonio or, The Soldier's Return" (1800) and "Faulkener, A Tragedy" (1807) were published in his lifetime, whilst "St Dunstan" (1790) and "Abbas, King of Persia" (1801) exist only in manuscript.The plays cover a substantial period of Godwin's career and bracket his period of greatest fame and creativity. Until now, the plays have not been available in a modern scholarly format. Consequentially, they have not received as much critical attention as his novels and political writings. This modern critical edition is edited to the highest standards and offers academics the chance to build a more complete picture of Godwin as a writer and political figure. It will be essential for those studying Literature, Romanticism and History of the Theatre.