William Godwin (1756–1836)

8.0/10

This is an interesting novel that carries with it all the weight of an 18th century crime-and-punishment gothic thriller, a text on social justice, and a fair representation of Roadrunner vs Wile E. Coyote. William Godwin was a visionary of no uncommon merit!

There is much here to disentangle, and if I had time and interest enough, this would be a great novel to pull apart with its important view into 18th century social (in)justice and the human malignancy that ran like a cancer show more through every level of society.

Subject to every man's abuse -- from the lord of the manor, to the prisoners who waste away in the dank cells of local prisons where Caleb often finds himself -- he is representative of what happens to human beings when tyranny rules.

Your innocence shall be of no service to you, says Squire Falkland. I laugh at so feeble a defence.

(Can you not picture him twirling his mustachios, melodramatically.)

And yet, do we not find it still to be so, in our society? Godwin's novel is a push-back, and a cry, all in one, against the original sin of inequality, of human worship of power, of the inhumanity of slavery, sometimes disguised as merely servitude. When one is in perpetual service, in whatever guise, it is difficult to distinguish tyranny from liberty.

Many of these themes are delivered with hammerhead blows, as the narrator often takes you aside and lectures you, while Caleb rests awhile in the dank dirty prison; but there is also subtlety and grace here, when Godwin remembers to let the story pull itself along. In those moments, one recognizes an immensely talented writer and a superb mind.

On the down side of it all, Caleb flails and falters just a little too often for my taste that I started to envision a skewed version of Wile E Coyote vs Roadrunner: whereas the roadrunner always gets away, in this instance Caleb always gets caught. I could only suspend my disbelief to a point -- and then I would be seized with momentary urges to slap him silly. Surely, at some point, even a complete innocent from the 18th century would gather a little more sagacity; be endowed with a smidgen more "street smarts" (I'm thinking of Moll Flanders here, for whom I longed with all my heart during some of Caleb's more imbecilic moves.)

Nonetheless, warts and all, this was very enjoyable and made a pleasant diversion, and an instructive detour into 19th century Britain; and, if you are of a more serious bent than I, may even require a few hankies to get through it all. show less

Published in 1794 by William Godwin to illustrate his political theories about the abuse of power over the populace by institutions and persons of influence, I think without a doubt this is one of the most miserable books that I have ever read.

Caleb Williams, a well-meaning young man, is taken into the service of Mr Falkland as secretary, a man whose early promise and happiness have been dashed for initially unexplained reasons. Initially, settling well into his new position, Caleb’s life show more is forever changed when he discovers the secret that Falkland has been desperate to conceal, and he finds himself trapped in a nightmarish web from which neither his friends nor the law is able to rescue him.

I certainly read this wanting to know what happened next, although the plot is definitely far fetched at time, and in particular the character of Falkland doesn’t altogether make sense. But cheerful it is not! show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/caleb-williams-or-things-as-they-are-by-william-...

So, first of all: it’s not really all that good as a novel. The protagonist, Caleb Williams, acquires a rich patron, Mr Falkland; discovers Falkland’s dark secret, which is that he committed a murder and allowed two other people to be executed for it; and then flees Falkland’s wrath for the rest of the book, pursued by the sinister thief-taker Gines.

The long chase is not really very interesting – show more Godwin could have made it more vivid with descriptions of landscape and townscape, but instead just has Caleb hiding, being found by Gines, fleeing and hiding somewhere else all over again. There’s one good bit set in London (which had me looking up sources on the historic synagogues of the city). The chase sequence is reminiscent of the one in Frankenstein, but his daughter did it better.

The moral core of the book is the relatively short section where Caleb is imprisoned unjustly, and faces Falkland’s wrath through the justice system. Godwin was determined to expose the ways in which the judicial system in England served only to impose the will of the rich on the poor. The sections where Caleb is in prison are footnoted as if to say “I am not making this bit up”. There is a wronged young woman character who also dies tragically in prison. It appears to be impossible to hold Falkland accountable for his wrongs. These sections are passionate and fluent.

(I did wonder also if there was a bit of a spurned lover vibe between Caleb and Falkland.)

It’s also mercifully short, and we rather dragged it out by reading only four or five pages a day. show less

A murder is committed and two men are hanged for the crime. When our hero finds out who really did it, he is framed as a thief and imprisoned. He escapes but where can he go with a notorious thief-taker on his trail and the real murderer seeking to ensure his silence?

Although I read this because it was said to be the first detective novel, the solving of the crime is a comparatively small part of the book (about 30 pages when it took us about 100 pages to actually get to the murder). The show more chase is nearly 2/3 of the book, so really it deserves recognition as an early example of a chase thriller. It wasn't hugely exciting but it was an interesting picture of the time. show less