Women, Letters, and the French Revolution: 1790-1795

This thesis traces British responses to the French Revolution between 1790 and 1795 in the work of three women writers: Helen Maria Williams (1761-1827), Charlotte Smith (1749-1803), and Mary Wollstonecraft (1756-1798). I am concerned with their changing ways of responding to the situations in France between 1790 and 1795, and the choices in genre that they made to express their opinions on the Revolution. These writers continued to publish works related to the Revolution, in defiance of hostile British reactions to the Revolution. This thesis also explores the personal correspondence that Williams, Smith, and Wollstonecraft exchanged with their friends, and reveals the dynamics of their friendships in relation to the writers’ support for the Revolution. By reading their publications and personal letters together, this study aims to tell stories of their lives between 1790 and 1795.