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The Adventures of Caleb Williams, or Things as They Are (1794) by William Godwin is a three-volume novel written as a call to end the abuse of power by what Godwin saw as a tyrannical government. Intended as a popularization of the ideas presented in his 1793 treatise Political Justice Godwin uses Caleb Williams to show how legal and other institutions can and do destroy individuals, even when the people the justice system touches are innocent of any crime. This reality, in Godwin's mind was therefore a description of "things as they are."The novel describes the downfall of Ferdinando Falkland, a British squire, and his attempts to ruin and destroy the life of Caleb Williams, a poor but ambitious young man that Falkland hires as his personal secretary. Caleb accidentally discovers a terrible secret in his master's past. Though Caleb promises to be bound to silence, Falkland, irrationally attached (in Godwin's view) to ideas of social status and inborn virtue, cannot bear that his servant should possibly have power over him, and sets out to use various means--unfair trials, imprisonment, pursuit, to make sure that the information of which Caleb is the bearer will never be revealed.Godwin described the book as "a series of adventures of flight and pursuit; the fugitive in perpetual apprehension of being overwhelmed with the worst calamities", so that Caleb Williams can be classified as an early thriller or mystery novel.In order to evade a censorship ban on presenting the novel on the stage, the impresario Richard Brinsley Sheridan presented the piece on the stage of his Drury Lane Theatre in 1796 under the title The Iron Chest, his pretext for avoiding censorship being that his resident composer Stephen Storace had made an "operatic version" of the story.
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Subjects
Fiction, Executions and executioners, Master and servant, False imprisonment, Young men, Murderers, Didactic fiction, Williams, caleb (fictitious character), fiction, Fiction, general, England, fiction, British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author), Classic Literature, Anarchism, Anarchism; writers of international importance; William Godwin and his circle; Godwin (author), Anarchisme; auteurs van internationale betekenis; William Godwin en zijn kring; werken van Godwin, Fiction, coming of age, Fiction, action & adventurePeople
William Godwin (1756-1836)Places
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Things as They Are: Or, the Adventures of Caleb Williams, Volume 3
May 22, 2016, Palala Press
1358453594 9781358453595
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Caleb Williams Or Things As They Are
April 12, 2007, IndyPublish
Paperback
in English
1428061797 9781428061798
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Caleb Williams - Things As They Are
November 8, 2007, Book Jungle
Paperback
in English
1604245557 9781604245554
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Caleb Williams oder die Dinge wie sie sind
2007, Edition AV
Paperback
in German
- 1. Auflage
3936049866 9783936049862
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Caleb Williams Or Things As They Are
April 12, 2007, IndyPublish
Hardcover
in English
1428061800 9781428061804
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Caleb Williams or Things As They Are
October 8, 2007, Echo Library
Paperback
in English
1406862223 9781406862225
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Caleb Williams (Large Print Edition): Things as They Are
June 2, 2007, BiblioBazaar
Paperback
in English
- Lrg edition
1434622649 9781434622648
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Caleb Williams: Things as They Are
June 2, 2007, BiblioBazaar
Paperback
in English
1434622045 9781434622044
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The Adventures Of Caleb Williams Things As They Are
November 1, 2006, ReadHowYouWant.com
Paperback
in English
- Lrg edition
1425042392 9781425042394
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Caleb Williams (Penguin Classics)
August 30, 2005, Penguin Classics
in English
0141441232 9780141441238
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Caleb Williams or Things As They Are
December 30, 2005, IndyPublish.com
Hardcover
in English
1421930935 9781421930930
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Caleb Williams or Things As They Are
December 28, 2005, IndyPublish.com
Paperback
in English
1421930943 9781421930947
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Caleb Williams Or Things As They Are
June 30, 2004, Kessinger Publishing
Paperback
in English
1419111582 9781419111587
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Caleb Williams Or Things As They Are
September 30, 2004, IndyPublish.com
Hardcover
in English
1414295669 9781414295664
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Caleb Williams Or Things As They Are
September 30, 2004, IndyPublish.com
Paperback
in English
1414295677 9781414295671
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The Adventures Of Caleb Williams, Or, Things
June 30, 2004, Kessinger Publishing
Paperback
in English
1419151428 9781419151422
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Les aventures de Caleb Williams
October 2, 1997, Phébus
Hardcover
in French
2859404961 9782859404963
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Things as they are, or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1988, Penguin Books
in English
0140432566 9780140432565
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Things As They Are or the Adventures of Caleb Williams
June 1977, W.W. Norton & Company
Textbook Binding
9997545095 9789997545091
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The adventures of Caleb Williams: or Things as they are
1960, Holt, Rinehart & Winston
in English
0030096456 9780030096457
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The adventures of Caleb Williams: or, Things as they are
1835, Richard Bentley, Bell and Bradfute, J. Cumming
in English
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The adventures of Caleb Williams: or, Things as they are
1832, Baudry's European Library
in English
- Rev. and corr., with memoirs of author.
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The adventures of Caleb Williams: or, Things as they are
1832, Baudry's European Library
- Rev. and corr., with memoirs of author.
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[The adventures of Caleb Williams: or, Things as they are
1831, Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley...[et al.]
in English
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Things as they are: or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1816, Printed for W. Simpkin and R. Marshal
in English
- The fourth edition.
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Things as they are: or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1816, Printed for W. Simpkin and R. Marshal
in English
- The 4th ed.
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Things as they are: or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1816, Printed for W. Simpkin and R. Marshal
in English
- 4th ed.
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Things as they are: or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1796, Printed for G.G. and J. Robinson ...
in English
- The second edition corrected.
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Things as they are; or, the adventures of Caleb Williams: By William Godwin. In three volumes.
1796, printed for G. G. and J. Robinson
Microform
in English
- The second edition corrected. ..
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Things as they are; or, The adventures of Caleb Williams.
1796, printedfor G.G. and J. Robinson
in English
- 2nd ed. corrected.
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Things as they are: or, the adventures of Caleb Williams: By William Godwin. In two volumes. ...
1795, printed for John Rice
Microform
in English
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Things as they are, or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1795, Printed for H. and P. Rice ... and sold by J. Rice and Co., Baltimore
in English
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Things as they are; or, the adventures of Caleb Williams: By William Godwin. In three volumes. ...
1794, printed for B. Crosby
Microform
in English
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Things as they are, or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1794, Printed for B. Crosby
Microform
in English
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Book Details
Edition Notes
First ed. published in 1794 under title: Things as they are : or The adventures of Caleb Williams.
Bibliography: xxvii-xxix.
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