This 1989 volume was created to mark the three-hundredth anniversary of Samuel Richardson's birth, with fifteen essays, some illustrated, by contributors who investigate various aspects of the novelist's work. The essays offer fresh readings of individual novels and of Richardson's whole oeuvre. Subjects range from an examination of reactions to Pamela to observations on patterns of male friendship in the novels. Richardson's personal epistolary production is studied by several of the contributors, one of whom makes a strong appeal for the publication of Richardson's complete correspondence. A strikingly original essay explores the novelist's temporal and geographical world, in relation to the real London of the time. This important collection, festive in spirit but sharp, scholarly and brilliantly multi-faceted, is a landmark in Richardson studies.
List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Chronology; Contributors; Introduction; Note on texts; Secondary works frequently cited; 1. Teaching Pamela Florian Stuber; 2. Pamela: rethinking arcadia Gillian Beer; 3. Truth and storytelling in Clarissa John Dussinger; 4. Remapping London: Clarissa and the woman in the window Edward Copeland; 5. Lovelace and the paradoxes of libertinism James Grantham Turner; 6. Richardson's Meditations: Clarissa's Clarissa Tom Keymer; 7. Identity and character in Sir Charles Grandison Margaret Anne Doody; 8. The pains of compliance in Sir Charles Grandison Carol Houlihan Flynn; 9. Richardson's 'Speaking Pictures' Janet E. Aikens; 10. Unravelling the 'Cord which ties good men to good men': male friendship in Richardson's novels David Robinson; 11. Richardson: original or learned genius? Jocelyn Harris; 12. 'A Young, a Richardson, or a Johnson': lines of cultural force in the age of Richardson Pat Rogers; 13. 'A novel in a series of letters by a lady': Richardson and some Richardsonian novels Isobel Grundy; 14. Publishing Richardson's correspondence: the 'necessary office of selection' Peter Sabor; 15. The rise of Richardson criticism Siobhan Kilfeather; Index.
