Caleb Williams by William Godwin.

[perusaphone]

I put in a search on here for a particular book title, it came back with just a post with the two worded title but, with nothing else at all. This may of course be all that is needed for some, but, it also serves to be justly ignored due to it's abbreviated substance, it then goes no further in essence and therefore gets forgotten. The author of the post feels a certain satisfaction in the fact that they may have read the book and have now informed any reader that they have done so and, there it ends..... I find this very frustrating, surely a comment or two about the subject matter could be put in as well instead of a an endless list of book titles, otherwise we will have no solid basis of interest, just quoting lists and titles to pass the time and to pretend to be an intellectual......

The book I am referring to here is a little read classic, first published in Merry England back in 1794/5. It goes by the title 'Caleb Williams'. (No, I had not heard of it either). Now, I tend to be randomly led by the previous books onto another one, it may be a relative book, it may be a suggested author, it may be by an event that currently appeals, who knows..? In this instance I simply placed in the computer search engine the words 'Government Corruption' and let it rip. This is where another random offshoot of reading matter happens. As well as the normal shenannigans of governmental intrigues, I also found the name William Godwin. It gets more interesting now. He wrote a book entitled grandly as 'Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and it's Influence on Modern Morals and Happiness' published 1793. This book, as yet unread by myself but soon will, is all about the perceived corruption of the political factions, the class stratification, the poor, the rich and so on in Gt. Britain. He was party to all the leaders of the time and was highly regarded in society. He entered into dialogue with all the rebellious figureheads of the time and, entertained regular meetings at his home for discussion and putting the world to rights.
He married a woman names Mary Wollstonecraft, the name may ring a bell or two for you, however, she gave birth to another Mary,named Mary Godwin of course. As the girl grew up, she was able to attend most of her fathers meetings at home. Not one for commenting, just listening in you understand. She had a rebellious streak in her as a result, she met many people from all walks of life until she met a certain married chap named Percy Shelley (the poet). They enjoyed a romp until they eventually married and were staying at a villa in Switzerland in 1816. There the challenge was put to the four people resident, for them to write individually, the best horror/ghost story they could, the challenge was meted out by Lord Byron. From this little gamble we get the eventual story 'Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus'. The rest is history. the book 'Frankenstein' is dedicated to the author of Caleb Williams, her father William Godwin.
William Godwin also wrote the book 'Caleb Williams' shortly after his treatise on corrupt politicians etc. This book is a rather heavyweight tome, written in the manner of 1700's speech of the educated of course. It tells of the misery and sorry fortunes of the title gentleman, when he falls prey to the machinations of the powerful and rich. It is a novel retaining the authors annoyance of how society works for the good of the powerful and and how the 'upper classes' ride roughshod over the weak. In fact, one can say that this book 'Caleb Williams' could be the very first novel ever written. Almost forgotten now, but surely, not just to be entitled on a forum with no backup story to inform the possible reader. It is still in print, albeit in paperback maybe, but it is worth a look for the way it is written, then onto the evolution of language which is rapidly morphing, these days, into abbreviated grunting i.e. "LO M8, Ow Do ?' etc........