Dutch TV edges closer

Some time ago I wrote of the Dutch Humanist TV station and its upcoming 12-part series on philosophers, of which Mary Wollstonecraft will get one hour-long episiode. (I like their graphic for the series, to the left.) I was interviewed via Twitter in June, which I reported at the time. I have heard from the production team again, and the broadcast will be a month today, 29 October. 


The researcher has assured me that the episode will be uploaded to Vimeo, for those out of reach of the Netherlands. Of course, it will be in Dutch, which is a bit of a hindrance for some of us. Fortunately, written text can be spun through Google Translate, followed by a quick clean-up. Herewith some of the press release.

Guests in this broadcast are Leon Heuts, philosopher, editor of Philosophy Magazine and fan of Mary Wollstonecraft. He holds a Twitter session with another fan: Roberta Wedge from London. On her blog Wedge researches everything to do with Wollstonecraft. She has a Twitter account as Mary.  

How can women combine passion with a career? Dorothée Forma [award-winning documentary maker] and Maruja Remijn Bobo, gender studies professor at the University of Amsterdam, follow Marieke Bax, businesswoman and founder of Talent to the Top, the initiative for more women to the top.  

Maruja Remijn Bobo: "On the one hand, Mary Wollstonecraft is a very interesting philosopher; on the other hand, she is a very passionate human being who travelled and loved. She was a very contemporary, modern, self-made woman."

Here's the Dutch Humanist TV take on Mary's life. NB the attention given to her marriage with dearest Wm:

Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, one of the first feminist works. In her time, women were primarily seen as property, but Wollstonecraft claims that they have the same rights as men. She writes a lot, novels and travel essays. She is one of the first women to live by the pen. She calls herself "the first of a new genus".

In 1792 Wollstonecraft departs for Paris to see the French Revolution at first hand. She meets the American Gilbert Imlay, with whom she has a daughter. After a painful break with Imlay and a failed suicide attempt, she becomes friends with the radical philosopher William Godwin, who rejects marriage and romance. Nevertheless they marry, emphasizing that their marriage is no concession to the prevailing morality, but they are completely equal partners. Mary Wollstonecraft died on September 10, 1797, 11 days after the birth of her daughter Mary.