Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady

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Overview

‘Oh thou savage-hearted monster! What work hast thou made in one guilty hour, for a whole age of repentance!’

Pressured by her unscrupulous family to marry a wealthy man she detests, the young Clarissa Harlowe is tricked into fleeing with the witty and debonair Robert Lovelace and places herself under his protection. Lovelace, however, proves himself to be an untrustworthy rake whose vague promises of marriage are accompanied by unwelcome and increasingly brutal sexual advances. And yet, Clarissa finds his charm alluring, her scrupulous sense of virtue tinged with unconfessed desire. Told through a complex series of interweaving letters, Clarissa is a richly ambiguous study of a fatally attracted couple and a work of astonishing power and immediacy. A huge success when it first appeared in 1747, and translated into French and German, it remains one of the greatest of all European novels.

In his introduction, Angus Ross examines characterization, the epistolary style, the role of the family and the position of women in Clarissa. This edition also includes a chronology, suggestions for further reading, tables of letters, notes, a glossary and an appendix on the music for the ‘Ode to Wisdom’.

The original, complete text of the 1747 edition, available for the first time since its first publication.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780140432152
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 2/28/1986
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 1536
  • Sales rank: 169,884
  • Series: Penguin Classics Series
  • Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 9.26 (h) x 2.48 (d)

Meet the Author

Samuel Richardson was born in Derbyshire in 1689, the son of a London joiner. He received little formal education and in 1707 was apprenticed to a printer in the capital. Thirteen years later he set up for himself as a stationer and printer and became one of the leading figures in the London trade. As a printer his output included political writing, such as the Tory periodical The True Briton, the newspapers, Daily Journal (1736-7) and Daily Gazeteer (1738), together with twenty-six volumes of the Journals of the House of Commons and general law printing. He was twice married and had twelve children.

His literary career began when two booksellers proposed that he should compile a volume of model letters for unskilled letter writers. While preparing this Richardson became fascinated by the project, and a small sequence of letters from a daughter in service, asking her father’s advice when threatened by her master’s advances, formed the germ of Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (1740-41). Pamela was a huge success and became something of a cult novel. By May 1741 it reached a fourth edition and was dramatized in Italy by Goldoni, as well as in England. His masterpiece, Clarissa or, the History of a Young Lady, one of the greatest European novels, was published in 1747-8. Richardson’s last novel, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, appeared in 1753-4. His writings brought him great personal acclaim and a coterie of devoted admirers who liked to discuss with him the moral aspects of the action in the novels. Samuel Richardson died in 1761 and is buried in St Bride’s Church, London.

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  • Posted April 9, 2010

    One of the First English Novels

    Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady is one of the first English novels published. I actually read this for my "Rise of the English Novel" class last semester. This is one of the better abridged versions of the Richardson's actual text--which I think is over 1,000 pages, if I am not mistaken.

    It is a bit of a slow read, but if you are setting out to read Clarissa, you probably are already aware that it was written in the 1700s and reflects the rather verbose writing style of the time. Yet even though the language is a bit roundabout, there is rich, RICH story here, and original, even for today. It is an epistolary novel, so the plot unfolds through a series of letters between various characters. The main focus is Clarissa Harlowe, of a somewhat wealthy family, who want their virtuous daughter to marry for monetary reasons (typical of the time). It seems Richardson is one of the first men to recognize that this view of marriage is unfair, and that women should have more agency. It's hard to give a good summary without giving away everything, but I'll tell you, the story features a self-proclaimed rakish character, Robert Lovelace, who wants to possess Clarissa, yet her family hates Lovelace and would rather her marry the "odious" Mr. Solmes. This is an interesting situation for the characters as Lovelace usually gets what he wants, Clarissa has to struggle with sexual urges and her standard of propriety, and her family feeds off of Clarissa's suffering.

    --Personally, I think that this novel employs themes of vampirism, though the idea of the vampire was not even available to Richardson at the time. I truly think Lovelace embodies the modern vampire, and that Clarissa's family acts vampirically too. Very interesting considering, like I said, it was only since the mid 1900s that vampires acquired their sexual appeal.

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