Lector auctorque in fabula : modèles d’écriture et modèles de lecture dans le roman godwinien

Abstract

This article looks at the three major novels of philosopher, historian and novelist William Godwin, published between 1794 and 1805. It seeks to show how the author- and reader-figures constructed in the novels, and the relation all three construct between author and reader, undergo a radical change between the early and late 1790s, as Godwin gradually established himself as a respectable professional writer, while the demise of the radical movement barred him from the artisan readers he had been able to reach.