- Enseignant-e: Elizabeth Kukorelly Leverington
When Samuel Richardson published his first novel, “Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded” (1740), he firmly directed the nascent genre towards formal realism and didactic intent. The simple story of a feisty servant girl who refuses to let her handsome young master have his naughty way with her, arguing: “But, O sir! my soul is of equal importance with the soul of a princess; though my quality is inferior to that of the meanest slave,” is written in the form of heartfelt letters from the protagonist to her parents. Power, consent, voice and class will all be central to our discussion, as will the examination of Richardson’s novel as a print market phenomenon. We will begin by reading the original novel. Then, we will look at two reactions to it: Henry Fielding’s parody spoof, Shamela, and Eliza Haywood’s more poignant Anti-Pamela. In addition, we will take a look at a variety of other iconographic and textual productions.
Bibliography:
Samuel Richardson, Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, Oxford World’s Classics ed. ISBN: 9780199536498.