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January 29, 2024 | History

Caleb Williams oder die Dinge wie sie sind

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William Godwin (1756–1836) hatte 1793 mit der aufsehenerregenden Publikation „An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice“ (Untersuchung, die politische Gerechtigkeit betreffend) das „erste grundlegende anarchistische Werk“ (Max Nettlau) verfasst.

Der spannende Roman „Caleb Williams“ ist eine popularisierte Darstellung der Ideen aus Political Justice. Godwin benutzte die Romanform als massenwirksames Mittel zur Propagierung seiner Gesellschaftskritik. Der Roman handelt von einer Verfolgung, die in exemplarischer Weise aufzeigt, wie „der Mensch zum Zerstörer des Menschen“ (William Godwin) wird.
Caleb Williams, ein einfacher Bauernsohn, bekommt Chance als Sekretär bei dem angesehenen Falkland zu arbeiten. Caleb hat eine rosige Zukunft vor sich. Seine Neugierde und seine Wissbegierigkeit führen eines Tages dazu, dass er Falklands Geheimnis lüftet. Er weiß nun, dass Falkland ein Mörder ist. Für Caleb Williams beginnt das Leiden, das Leben wird von nun an von Flucht, Gefangenenschaft und Verfolgung geprägt.

Wäre Caleb Williams ausschließlich eine literarische Gesellschaftskritik, wäre er nicht so erfolgreich gewesen. Aus der psychologischen Konstellation der handelnden Figuren hat Godwin ein Abenteuer- und Schauerroman, ein frühes Meisterwerk des Verbrecher- und Kriminalromans geschaffen. Godwin hatte mit „Caleb Williams“ einen der ersten Kriminalromane geschrieben, bei ihm tritt der Mörder nicht als Gejagter, sondern als Jäger auf.

(Quelle: Edition AV)

Publish Date
Publisher
Edition AV
Language
German
Pages
377

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Caleb Williams
Caleb Williams
2009, Oxford University Press
in English
Cover of: Caleb Williams oder die Dinge wie sie sind
Caleb Williams oder die Dinge wie sie sind
2007, Edition AV
Paperback in German - 1. Auflage
Cover of: Things as they are, or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
Things as they are, or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1988, Penguin Books
in English
Cover of: Caleb Williams
Caleb Williams
1977, Oxford University Press
in English
Cover of: Caleb Williams
Caleb Williams
1977, Norton
in English
Cover of: The adventures of Caleb Williams; or
Cover of: Caleb Williams, ou, Les choses comme elles sont
Cover of: Caleb Williams, ou, Les choses comme elles sont
Cover of: Caleb Williams
Caleb Williams
1831, Colburn and Bentley
Cover of: Things as they are
Things as they are: or, The adventures of Caleb Williams
1816, Printed for W. Simpkin and R. Marshal
in English - The 4th ed.
Cover of: Les aventures de Caleb Williams; ou, Les choses comme elles sont. Trad. de l'Anglais sur l'édition dernièrement publ. par l'auteur, avec des changemens et corrections.

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
Lich, Germany
Series
Libertäre Bibliothek, 1
Translation Of
Things as they are, or, the adventures of Caleb Williams
Translated From
English

Contributors

Translator
Rudolf Rocker
Foreword
Rudolf Rocker
Afterword
Jürgen Mümken

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Pagination
377p.
Number of pages
377
Dimensions
20.7 x 13.6 x 3.2 centimeters
Weight
400 grams

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL26413834M
ISBN 10
3936049866
ISBN 13
9783936049862
OCLC/WorldCat
214366190
Library Thing
29906
Deutsche National Bibliothek
98588679X
Google
5nttIAAACAAJ
Wikidata
Q7784409
Goodreads
93121686

Work Description

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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History

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January 29, 2024 Edited by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten Goodreads
October 17, 2021 Edited by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten details
August 16, 2020 Edited by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten ISBNs, dimensions
August 6, 2020 Edited by Lisa Merge works
January 5, 2018 Created by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten Added new book.