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Article: "Magnetical sympathy": strategies of power and resistance in Godwin's 'Caleb Williams.' (William Godwin)
- Article from:
- Criticism
- Article date:
- March 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Wayne State University Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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There is a magnetical virtue in man, but there must be friction and heat, before the virtue will operate.
William Godwin, "Of History and Romance"(1)
When William Godwin sat down to deliberate the "due medium between individuality and concert" in the 1798 edition of an appendix to Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, he confronted a conundrum. On the one hand: "In society, no man possessing the genuine marks of a man can stand alone. Our opinions, our tempers and our habits are modified by those of each other. . . . He that would attempt to counteract it . . . will divest himself of the character of a man. . . ."(2) Not only are we "formed" for and ...