Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
In twenty-five letters addressed to an unnamed lover, Wollstonecraft describes a journey through Scandinavia undertaken in 1795 on Gilbert Imlay’s business. She observes landscapes, towns, trade, the condition of women and the laws she encounters, joining social criticism to reflections on nature, solitude, grief and the imagination.
Understanding the text
Published by Joseph Johnson in 1796, the book was widely read and soon translated; Godwin wrote that it could make a reader fall in love with its author. The private purpose of the journey, the search for a lost cargo, is not stated in the text and was reconstructed by later research.
Key points
- 01
Observation
Customs, prisons, manners and poverty become evidence for reflecting on how institutions shape character.
- 02
Nature
Descriptions of rocks, forests and sea join the sublime to an inquiry into the mind’s power to feel and to reason.
- 03
Commerce
Wollstonecraft criticizes the spirit of trade and speculation, whose effects she meets in the towns and in her own life.
Explore the ideas in depth
A philosophical journey north
Explore the Scandinavian letters, where the observation of landscapes and societies turns into a reflection on feeling, reason and commerce.
Situating the text
Published by Joseph Johnson in 1796, the book was widely read and soon translated; Godwin wrote that it could make a reader fall in love with its author. The private purpose of the journey, the search for a lost cargo, is not stated in the text and was reconstructed by later research. In twenty-five letters addressed to an unnamed lover, Wollstonecraft describes a journey through Scandinavia undertaken in 1795 on Gilbert Imlay’s business. She observes landscapes, towns, trade, the condition of women and the laws she encounters, joining social criticism to reflections on nature, solitude, grief and the imagination.
Following the arguments
Observation : Customs, prisons, manners and poverty become evidence for reflecting on how institutions shape character. Nature : Descriptions of rocks, forests and sea join the sublime to an inquiry into the mind’s power to feel and to reason. Commerce : Wollstonecraft criticizes the spirit of trade and speculation, whose effects she meets in the towns and in her own life.
Continuing the reading
Read a few letters from Norway and the letters from Copenhagen near the end, then compare the travel narrative with the political arguments of the two Vindications. Published by Joseph Johnson in 1796, the book was widely read and soon translated; Godwin wrote that it could make a reader fall in love with its author. The private purpose of the journey, the search for a lost cargo, is not stated in the text and was reconstructed by later research.
Questions to carry into your reading
- How do the descriptions of nature change the narrator’s mood and reasoning in the Letters?
- Which observations about Scandinavian society echo the arguments of the two Vindications?
In the Letters, personal experience and social observation become a way of testing the principles set out in the political works.
How to read it
Read a few letters from Norway and the letters from Copenhagen near the end, then compare the travel narrative with the political arguments of the two Vindications.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗