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Samuel Richardson (1689-1761)
Who?
One of the founding fathers of the modern novel. All his books are epistolary, a form which he took from earlier works in English and French. This device, with its intimacy, made it easy to teach moral values to the reader. Realism was a guiding principle of his work.
Must reads
Pamela (1741) and Clarissa (1748).
Darkest hour
In the 1720s and early 1730s, Richardson's wife and six children died. For the rest of his life, he suffered nervous disorders.
Greatest triumph
In 1755, Dr Johnson published his dictionary, which contains 97 citations from Clarissa, double the number of any other novel.
Essential quotes
'Well may I forget that I am your servant, when you forget what belongs to a master.' (Pamela)
'Oh my best, my dearest, my only friend! What a tale I have to unfold.' (Clarissa)
Gossip
His second marriage in 1733 was to the daughter of a printer, Elizabeth Leake, and they had four daughters. Complaints of impropriety persuaded him to revise the second edition of Pamela.
Did u know?
He was so good at writing romantic fiction that at the age of 13 he was making money by writing letters for young lovers.
His parents were lower middle class, and his schooling was limited although he taught himself; he was apprenticed to a printer and flourished in that trade before starting to write at the age of 50.
Fame
Clarissa was soon translated into French, Dutch and German.
Response
After Pamela became a bestseller, Henry Fielding satirised it in Shamela.
What to say
Life begins at 50. Clarissa is the longest novel in English and you need strong wrists to hold a single-volume edition.
Don't say
Cut, cut, cut!
Copies of the featured books can be purchased from various suppliers including Amazon, Blackwell's and WHSmith.
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