On Clarissa | Part 1, Background

'The Harlowe Family' by Joseph Highmore'

[CW: This novel contains rape as a main plot point, and so my posts about the novel may contain discussions about sexual violence within the narrative.]

Those of you who follow me elsewhere may know that I'm in the process of reading Samuel Richardson's 'Clarissa', the longest novel in English Literature. Those of you who know me personally may also know that despite three years of study as an undergraduate, I'm a pretty slow reader. Suffice to say, I still haven't finished reading it, and certainly won't finish it any time soon. And so I thought perhaps I'd dedicate a corner of my blog to my thoughts whilst reading the novel, whilst hopefully staying as spoiler free as possible.

I'm reading the Penguin Classics edition which is the first edition of the novel, although apparently not the longest (because apparently 1499 large pages with small font isn't big enough.) The novel was edited for future editions and a few more letters were added, and that edition is said to be closest to what Richardson intended. I'm reading the novel for my own personal enjoyment however, not for any scholarly work, so none of this really mattered to me. It's something to bear in mind though if you're buying a copy for yourself.

The blurb reads:

"In Clarissa, one of the greatest European novels and its author's triumph, Samuel Richardson had the luck or prescience to hit upon a story that became a myth to his own age, and remains so now.

How Clarissa, in resisting parental pressure to marry a loathsome man for money, falls prey to Lovelace, is raped and dies, is the bare outline of a story that blossomed in all directions under Richardson's hands. He was, self-confessedly and happily, 'a poor pruner'. Written in letters, the novel contains all the urgency and tension of personal communications set down 'to the moment', compelling our confidence but also our distrust. Its rich ambiguities -- our sense of Clarissa's scrupulous virtue tinged with intimations of her capacity for self-deception in matters of sex; the wicked and amusing faces of Lovelace, who must be easily the most charming villain in English literature -- give the story extraordinary psychological momentum. In that fatally attracted pair, Richardson created lovers that haunt the imagination as Romeo and Juliet do, or Tristan and Isolde.

This Penguin Classic makes the first edition of Clarissa available for the first time since it appeared in 1747-8. The editor, Angus Ross, has provided an excellent introduction and notes."

For those who've suffered through Richardson's earlier novel Pamela, and are put off from reading Clarissa because of the similarities between them, I can assure you that they are vastly different novels beyond the basic premise.

So what's similar? Well both are epistolary novels about a young girl being pursued by a sexual predator. The bulk of Pamela's letters are to her parents, whilst Clarissa's are mostly to her best friend Anna Howe. The main difference in plot is that Pamela ends up falling in love with and marrying her attempted rapist (?!?!?!?! I know), whilst Clarissa is unable to tame the beast, and is raped, later dying of venereal disease. Both are bloody awful outcomes, but barely 200 pages in Clarissa is already a far more satisfying read. That's mostly down to Clarissa being a far more realistic female character, rather than a caricature of what an eighteenth century man might think a virtuous woman should be. Her friendship with Anna is charming too (and I'd argue very gay, but let's save that for another time), and Anna is fast becoming one of my favourite female characters in literature. She's Moll Flanders if she was born into a wealthy family and didn't have to resort to crime. She's passionate, demands to be heard, and loves her best friend dearly, so much so I'm convinced she'd kill for her (silently wishing she chops Lovelace up with an axe at the end.) In fact if anyone wants to write a fan fic where Anna Howe is a vampire slayer, I will read that in a heart beat. (Send me all your Clarissa/Anna slash fic as well.)

Both novels, like most novels of the period, were published with the claim that they are true stories, notice how the title page of Clarissa says it's from the EDITOR of Pamela, not the author. They also claim to be published for moral guidance rather than for raw entertainment, so all this must be taken into account when we read the novel, as contemporaries wouldn't have the wealth of information surrounding it as we have today. Perhaps for that reason I should leave it there.

If you're going to be reading along with me, let me know in the comments below. If not, you can read my posts so you can talk about the novel and pretend you know all about it without actually having to read the whole thing (I wouldn't judge.) Also, I promise to blog more frequently from now on! So until then, bye for now :)