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'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.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Pamela is one of those books that always has to appear on undergraduate courses on the history of the novel because it was so influential but it is undoubtedly a book which hasn't stood the tests of time well and which is a difficult book for us to read today. Told in epistolary form, it tells the story of Pamela, a servant girl, pursued obsessively by her master who hides in cupboards, gropes her and rapes her until they finally get married...!
So, ok, the story itself might be pretty offensive to us today and the method of telling is frequently repetitive, but it does tell us quite a lot about the culture, gender relations, and role of literature of the time in which it was written. Realism wasn't necessarily what Richardson was aiming for, and neither is the sort of psychological dimension which appears in the C19th alongside the growth of scientific pyschology.
So this is very much a book which you have to take on its own terms - it certainly won't be for everyone but does have a strange kind of vitality and energy of its own.
So, ok, the story itself might be pretty offensive to us today and the method of telling is frequently repetitive, but it does tell us quite a lot about the culture, gender relations, and role of literature of the time in which it was written. Realism wasn't necessarily what Richardson was aiming for, and neither is the sort of psychological dimension which appears in the C19th alongside the growth of scientific pyschology.
So this is very much a book which you have to take on its own terms - it certainly won't be for everyone but does have a strange kind of vitality and energy of its own.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first half of the novel is good. The letter form works well and though the heroine is very wet there's a lot of amusement to be derived from her efforts to stay virtuous. Also some interesting points on the abuse of power between master and servant. Unfortunately the second half goes downhill pretty fast. Once Pamela's situation is resolved there's nowhere to go other than round and round in circles which is very boring. Some fun might be gleaned from wondering just how virtuous/manipulative Pamela actually is, but otherwise this novel doesn't live up to its reputation.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was a book that was on my daughters list of University books needed this year, so bought very much for that. Great that a least it doesn't cost a fortune unlike some others.
I have read the first couple of chapters and it does have an appeal, not to everyone though, maybe just a 'classic' thing, but one thing for sure it has got me looking slightly differently at the 'classics'. Left with wanting to know how the rest the book goes, will have to wait until half term.
This is a paperback version and a good read.
I have read the first couple of chapters and it does have an appeal, not to everyone though, maybe just a 'classic' thing, but one thing for sure it has got me looking slightly differently at the 'classics'. Left with wanting to know how the rest the book goes, will have to wait until half term.
This is a paperback version and a good read.
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