Review of John R. Reed, Victorian Will (1989)

Abstract

Celebrates Reed’s attempt at a compendium on a subject that vexed philosophers and other writers in Victorian England: the clash between free will and determinism. Finds Reed subtly siding with those who promote free will, and faults him for his offhanded dismissal of John Stuart Mill. Believes his analysis of poets and novelists is helpful in demonstrating how the concept of will affected their creativity.