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Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics)
 
 
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Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

by Samuel Richardson (Author), Thomas Keymer (Editor), Alice Wakely (Editor) "I HAVE had inexpressible Pleasure in the Perusal of your PAMELA ..." (more)
2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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  • This item: Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics) by Samuel Richardson

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Product details

  • Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (7 Jun 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0192829602
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192829603
  • Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.7 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 61,886 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > R > Richardson, Samuel
    #81 in  Books > Fiction > By Period > 16th to 18th Century

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Product Description

Product Description
'Pamela under the Notion of being a Virtuous Modest Girl will be introduced into all Familes,and when she gets there, what Scenes does she represent? Why a fine young Gentleman endeavouring to debauch a beautiful young Girl of Sixteen.' (Pamela Censured, 1741) One of the most spectacular successes of the burgeoning literary marketplace of eighteeent-century London, Pamela also marked a defining moment in the emergence of the modern novel. In the words of one contemporary, it divided the world 'into two different Parties, Pamelists and Antipamelists', even eclipsing the sensational factional politics of the day. Preached up for its morality, and denounced as pornography in disguise, it vividly describes a young servant's long resistance to the attempts of her predatory master to seduce her. Written in the voice of its low-born heroine, but by a printer who fifteen years earlier had narrowly escaped imprisonment for the seditious output of his press, Pamela is not only a work of pioneering psychological complexity, but also a compelling and provocative study of power and its abuse. Based on the original text of 1740, from which Richardson later retreated in a series of defensive revisions, this edition makes available the version of Pamela that aroused such widespread controversy on its first appearance.

About the Author
Thomas Keymer's books include Richardson's Clarissa and the Eighteenth Century Reader (1992) and the OWC edition of Fielding's Joseph Andrews and Shamela.
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I HAVE had inexpressible Pleasure in the Perusal of your PAMELA. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Tedium with a twinkle of something special, 12 Jun 2001
By T. Gambrell "Brellers" (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a book that Eighteenth Century scholars have been waiting for for a long time. The Penguin edition (ed. Pater Sabor, 1980) is useful, but it reprints Richardson's heavily revised text. Here we now have the original 1740 edition which caused so much of a stir on its original publication. It is easy to see why Richardson revised the text, as it does come across as vaguely pornographic - or at least titilating - in places, rather defeating the portrayal of virtue recommended by the book as a whole. It is tedious, overlong, affected and melodramatic, but one cannot deny its place as a major creative step in the birth of the novel and that is why it is important to us today. Keymer's edition serves the original text well, with a suitably thorough introduction and explanatory notes. The appendices, as ever, are little gems in themselves and help to make the package more useful to the scholar, whilst also being of interest to the casual reader. This volume can be seen in many ways as the companion to Keymer's revised Oxford Classics edition of Henry Fielding's 'Joseph Andrews and Shamela'. The connection between the books and their authors is well documented, and it has to be said that one of the joys of getting through this book is to be able to pick up 'Shamela' and 'Joseph Andrews' afterwards - or even John Cleland's 'Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' ('Fanny Hill') - and enjoy a good laugh at Richardson's expence. That's not to say that the novel doesn't have merits in its own right, though. A fine edition of an historic book and a brave read, but you can't help thinking there's a little something special going on at the same time.
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A Long Hard Journey, but Worth it, 18 Jul 2005
By Kate Saunders "saunders350" (Windsor) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Pamela is a novel written in the form of letters and, as in the case of many other stories, is essentially about overwhelming good overcoming evil despite boundaries in class, strength and power.

Pamela is the heroine of the novel and the waffly chatterbox writer of these letters, an extraordinarily beautiful girl of 15, with maturity of mind, a humble heart and a good soul. Throughout the first half of the novel Pamela grapples with her Master known as Mr B, who, bewitched by her beauty, and visibly torn between his pride and dignity as a member of the upper class, and his infatuation with her, attempts to destroy her chastity, using all of his power and status to siege her. The second volume in the novel is more like a traditional romance.

The novel is surprisingly readable considering it's format, in letters, and it is easy to get emotionally caught up in the plot, feeling sympathy for Pamela who at times appears to be a damsel in distress without a trusty handsome prince to save her from her tormentors. Most of the other characters in the novel are very likeable too as Richardson does an excellent job in making his characters very human.

When reading the novel, at points, it felt like it would make a great television series, due to the fact that the movement is very slow throughout the novel and the action seems to occur in isolated incidents. However this can make this read less riveting as often you will need to work at reading this novel, and at over 500 pages long this novel can sometimes be a hard slog.

In Conclusion, however, this is well worth a read, with good morals, a feel-good plot and human, likeable characters, but do not expect this book to read itself. It needs some work, but it's a rewarding read.

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20 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars tedious at best, 5 Jun 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded (Penguin English Library) (Paperback)
This book should be admired for its innovative use of the epistolary format, however it is an extremely tedious read. Its main goal is to convince the reader that the main character is rewarded in the end of the novel for her adherence to her virtue, but she's so boring and unlikable that you really don't care what happens to her. Richardson's novel is repetitive and unecisarily long, this novel could have been one hundred pages at the longest. For a more interesting read check out Fanny Burney's book Evelina, with its similar theme but much better execution.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Thank God this is over
I was so excited before I read this book. It was my first year at university and I was eager to discover the gems of 18th century literature. Read more
Published 9 months ago by the

1.0 out of 5 stars a perverse vision of love
This book is completely unrealistic, and it doesn't surprise me that a man wrote it!

It tells the story of a girl (Pamela) falling in love with her would-be... Read more
Published 12 months ago by M. Thorton

1.0 out of 5 stars What a waste of my time.
It honestly shocks me that this was a best seller at the time and it caused a storm with the eighteenth century audience. Were they brain dead? Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2007 by Nicola Jarvis

3.0 out of 5 stars Not one for sensitive feminists
Having been asked to read this for an English lit course, I was fairly unethusiastic in my approach to it. Read more
Published on 5 May 2007 by J. Martin

4.0 out of 5 stars Pamela
I found Pamela an extremely, interesting, romantic read. Although a little tedious at the beginning, perservere and it soon picks up pace, and has the most satisfying finish ever.
Published on 21 May 2004 by musicrox

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun, moral read
The beauty of Pamela is that one can sympathise with and laugh at the main characters at once.
Pamela's relentless pursuer, Mr B, is seen as the highest authority in her eyes,... Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2003

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