Samuel Richardson and the Art of Letter-Writing

Examines Samuel Richardson's letters and novels, and explores the interconnection between fiction and correspondence in eighteenth-century literature.

List of contents

Introduction: undesigning scribbler; 1. Forming a style: Pamela, plainness and the 'true sublime'; 2. Lady Bradshaigh's Clarissa and the author as correspondent; 3. Trifling scribes: women's letters and patchwork writing; 4. The Grandison years: men, morals, and manliness; 5. Editing letters in an age of index-learning; Conclusion.

About the author

Louise Curran is a Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College, Oxford. She is co-editor (with George Justice and Devoney Looser) of Correspondence Primarily on Pamela and Clarissa (1732–1749), a forthcoming volume in The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Samuel Richardson. As well as articles on Richardson's correspondence, she has written on Pope's Rape of the Lock and Milton's reception in eighteenth-century verse miscellanies.

Summary

Samuel Richardson was not only a prolific correspondent with friends and admirers, but his hugely influential novels were written in epistolary style. This study examines Samuel Richardson's letters and their relationship with his novels to explore the interconnection between fiction and correspondence in eighteenth-century literature.

Product details

• Authors: Louise Curran, Louise (University of Oxford) Curran, Curran Louise
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.01.2019
• EAN: 9781107579385
• ISBN: 978-1-107-57938-5
• No. of pages: 283
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; Diaries, letters & journals, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Diaries & Journals, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Letters, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / General, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Literature: history & criticism, Literary studies: general, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Diaries, letters and journals, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Literature: history and criticism, C 1700 To C 1800, LITERARY CRITICISM / Novel as Form