Guardian Review of Brekke's publication

And this is the Observer's review of Brekke's previously mentioned book http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/14/mary-wollstonecraft-letters-classics-corner):

Classics corner: Letters Written in Sweden, Norway and Denmark

Katie Toms
The Observer, Sunday 14 June 2009

"If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book," remarked Mary Wollstonecraft's husband, William Godwin, of these letters, written in 1795. It is not her best-known work but it certainly shows why Godwin was smitten. Travelling with just her baby daughter and a nursemaid as company, Wollstonecraft cuts a dashing figure on a mission to recover a stolen boat of silver and proves herself an acute observer and knowledgeable guide.

Letters Written in Sweden, Norway and Denmark
by Mary Wollstonecraft
Edited by Tone Brekke and Jon Mee
Oxford World's Classics, £8.99


She was, however, primarily a woman of ideas and she used these letters to extend her defence of the French Revolution, outline her radical stance on women's rights, crime (caused by wealth, not poverty), capital punishment (ineffective and excessive) and commerce (evil). She is particularly perturbed to discover Swedish female servants living lives of brutal drudgery in near slavery.

Though written for publication (her private letters to Imlay, included in this edition as an appendix are quite different), this collection brings to life the radical writer of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, proving she was a strident, independent force in deeds as well as words. One can only imagine the spectacle she caused travelling alone in the late 18th century.

The scope and insight Wollstonecraft brings to these letters serve only to make one more sorrowful that her remarkable life was cut short so soon. This edition forms a fitting tribute to the pioneering feminist on the 250th anniversary of her birth.

Wollstonecraft letters ed. by Tone Brekke, Oxford University Press

My friend James Harding in New Zealand, the owner of the CALVINOLATRY blog, posted on Facebook this morning: "James Harding no longer has a blog."
Prompted by his example, I wondered if I should follow suit since it is now over 6 months since I posted something here. Giving it a last shot, however, I thought I could publish here some information of proceedings and other publications coming out of the Canonicity project group (see my blogger profile) published during the spring semester. First, Tone's latest book (Tone is postdoc on the canonicity project, http://www.stk.uio.no/forskning/prosjekter/kanon.html#Anchor-Delprosjekt-47857).

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/images/en_US/covers/large/9780199230631_450.jpg

Oxford University Press' homepage says the following (http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199230631.do?keyword=Brekke&sortby=bestMatches):
Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
Mary Wollstonecraft
Tone Brekke and Jon Mee
Oxford World's Classics
240 pages | one map | 196x129mm
978-0-19-923063-1 | Paperback | 12 March 2009
Price: £8.99
Pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft's Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark was her most popular book during her lifetime. Part travel book, part personal, social, and political memoir, her response to nature and society contains some of her most brilliant writing and gives us a genuine insight into her personality.
Wide-ranging Introduction considers Wollstonecraft's life, the unusual reason for her trip, the qualities of the work and its later influence.
Fascinating and contextualizing appendices include her lover's Imlay's commission to recover his lost silver, her recently discovered letter to Danish Prime Minister asking for assistance, the private letters she wrote to Imlay during her travels in Scandinavia, a chapter from Godwin's memoir of Wollstonecraft, and a selection of contemporary reviews.
Includes map.
'If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book.'

William Godwin, the author's future husband, was not alone in admiring Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Wollstonecraft's most popular book during her lifetime. Not easy to categorize, it is both an arresting travel book and a moving exploration of her personal and political selves. Wollstonecraft set out for Scandinavia just two weeks after her first suicide attempt, on a mission from the lover whose affections she doubted, to recover his silver on a ship that had gone missing. With her baby daughter and a nursemaid, she travelled across the dramatic landscape and wrote sublime descriptions of the natural world, and the events and people she encountered. What emerges most vividly is Wollstonecraft's courage and ability to look beyond her own suffering to the turmoil around her in revolutionary Europe, and a better future.

This edition includes further material on the silver ship, Wollstonecraft's personal letters to Imlay during her trip, an extract from Godwin's memoir, and a selection of contemporary reviews.
Readership: Readers of classic travel literature, especially with an interest in Scandinavia, history, Romantic literature; students of English Literature, Romantic period literature, Gender/Women's Studies, History, especially the French Revolution.