On Saturday evening, I took the bus downtown Toronto go see Major Lazer with my friends Pascal and David. We first met close to the distillery district at a lovely restaurant. The restaurant had a very nice homey feel to it, and the food was delicious and healthy. We took a cab to the Docks where Major Lazer was playing. Apart from the expensive drinks, I have no complaints about the experience. DJs Diversity and Sinden opened, and they were really enjoyable. By the time Major Lazer hit the stage, the crowd was in full force and people were chanting for them. Ahh. Pure decadence.
Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797)
Mary was born to a middle class family in London, England. Unfortunately, her father was an alcoholic that would hurt her mother in drunken rages, and Mary became her mother's protector. These events would shape Mary's life.
Through out her childhood and adolescence, she had a few intellectual friends that she could call upon for support and for intellectual stimulation. Fanny Blood was one of these friends, and she and her family allowed Mary to live with them for a few years. Mary and Fanny had dreams of forming a feminist utopia, whereby they would live together and support one another through their trials and tribulations. Unfortunately, this was to remain a dream, as neither had the funds to do so. Wollstonecraft, her sisters, and Fanny opened up a school in London (in a Dissenting Community*) .
Blood's health was not always good, and when she got married, her husband moved her to continental Europe to improve. Mary followed her, and tried to nurse her back to health. But alas, Fanny had died. And because Mary left the school, it had failed.
The death of Fanny Blood would provide the inspiration for her novel, Mary:A Fiction.
Mary was frustrated by the lack of job prospects for an educated but poor woman. She tried to be a governess for one year, but it left her wanting. After this experience, she made the decision to become an author. She got a job with a publisher, Joseph Johnson, with whom she would become very close. She learned French and German and translated texts. Through Johnson, Mary would meet intellectual luminaries like Thomas Paine and William Goodwin.
By this time Mary had fallen in love with an artist Henry Fusseli, even though he was married. She had made romantic overtures to him, only to be rejected. To escape her humiliation, she retreated to France at a time of the Revolution, which events would influence much of her later works. In 1790, she wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Man in response to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France where Mary advocates feminism and republicanism. Her most famous work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was written in 1792, and is one of the earliest writings of modern feminism.
During her stay in France, she met Gilbert Imlay, with whom she had began a sexual relationship. She got pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, Fanny. While they were not married, Imlay had her registered as his wife to protect her in the Revolution. Imlay soon tired of the domesticity and family life and left Mary. Hearing that he had went to London, she went back to her home to find him. Not so surprisingly, he rejected her. His rejection was too much for Mary to bear, and she had tried to commit suicide, but was saved at the last moment by Imlay. In an attempt to win back Imlay, she went to Scandanavia with her young daughter, so that she may recoup some of his losses. During her adventures, she wrote Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark in 1796. She returned, and when she realized that the relationship was indeed over, she attempted suicide again by throwing herself in the river, only to be rescued by a stranger.
She became involved again in Johnson's literary circle and had became re-acquainted with Goodwin. This time, however, Goodwin and Wollstonecroft started a relationship. About Letters, "If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book. She speaks of her sorrows, in a way that fills us with melancholy, and dissolves us in tenderness, at the same time that she displays a genius which commands all our admiration."
Mary would become pregnant again by Goodwin, and they decided to get married so that their child would not face the prospect of bastardy. Though this revealed that Wollstonecraft was never married to Imlay, and they faced scorn from others amongst them. After their marriage, they got adjoining homes so that they may retain their independence.
When Mary gave birth to her daughter, Mary (the future Mary Shelley), she developed an infection and died 10 days later of septicemia.
After her death, her loving husband had published her memoirs about her illegitimate child, suicides and problems, in hopes that the audience will look upon her with compassion. However, this only heaped scorn upon Mary's life, and people were aghast at her illegitimate children. These views persisted until recently.
Sources: Wikipedia
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