Caleb Williams
Caleb Williams (Things as They Are: or The Adventures of Caleb Williams),a novel by W. Godwin , published 1794 . This work is remarkable as an early example of the propagandist novel, as a novel of pursuit, crime, and detection, and as a psychological study. It was designed to show ‘the tyranny and perfidiousness exercised by the powerful members of the community against those who are less privileged than themselves’. A provocative preface to the original edition was withdrawn.
It is related in the first person by its eponymous hero. The first part of the book deals with the misdeeds of Tyrrel, an arrogant and tyrannical country squire, who ruins a tenant on his estate, Hawkins, for refusing to yield to one of his whims, and drives to the grave his niece Miss Melville for refusing to marry a boor of his selection. In the course of these events he comes into conflict with the idealistic and benevolent Falkland, a...
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