"Pamela", Samuel Richardson

[mmaria]

Which half of the novel do you think is better? The first one where she suffers because of the violent attacks of his passion, or the second one which describes them as a happy couple, deeply in love with each other.

[LitNetIsGreat]

None, both are equally tedious.:lol:

Though if I had to choose the first-half because I want to strangle Pamela the more I read of it. Then again it could be worse, it could be Tom Jones you are reading and that is even worse if you ask me. When I last flicked through my notes on that novel I saw scrawled on the top of the page "I want to kill myself." At times being a literature student is so much fun.:sick:

[mmaria]

None, both are equally tedious.:lol:

Though if I had to choose the first-half because I want to strangle Pamela the more I read of it. Then again it could be worse, it could be Tom Jones you are reading and that is even worse if you ask me. When I last flicked through my notes on that novel I saw scrawled on the top of the page "I want to kill myself." At times being a literature student is so much fun.:sick:

He, he... For me, this book is great. In a very simple, but, at the same time, in a very worked out manner, it pictures the way human mind functions, which has not changed since that remote time. If you put aside the style of an old novel writing and mentality of the 18th century people, but just pay attention to the experiences of two people joined on the same venture - to find perfect relation between the eternal male and eternal female - it shows how much different are they and how much different are the ways they follow to achieve this mutual goal.
The author was certainly a great psychologist and conoisseur of human nature.

[LitNetIsGreat]

It's great that you have found pleasure in this novel, it just shows the pointlessness of people recommending this or that book to each other all the time. People have various tastes at various times.

The author was certainly a great psychologist and conoisseur of human nature.

I'm not sure I could agree, nor would Henry Fielding would ripped the talents of Richardson to shreds and completely mocked him in Shamela. Tell me have you read Shamela it might be an interesting book to read if you enjoyed Pamela?

[mmaria]

It's great that you have found pleasure in this novel, it just shows the pointlessness of people recommending this or that book to each other all the time. People have various tastes at various times.

The author was certainly a great psychologist and conoisseur of human nature.

I'm not sure I could agree, nor would Henry Fielding would ripped the talents of Richardson to shreds and completely mocked him in Shamela. Tell me have you read Shamela it might be an interesting book to read if you enjoyed Pamela?


Yeah, you're right. One literature work is inspiration for another one. This is why Richardson is great. You can build a mountian of theories upon his work. For instance, why did Fielding write a satirical novel "Shamela", inspired by the Richardson's one?

[Nightshade]

Or the other one by Fielding, John Anderson I think it was called?
Anyway I hated and enjoyed the book, but it has stuck with me- if for no other reason than I got side tracked into reading essays on the impact of pamela on the devleopment of the english novel and society's views on literature and pornography. And the obscene Publications Act 1857.

It was all very odd, but rather amusing in its oddness

[mmaria]

Can we exclude the "then-time" reactions and percieve the book from our time's point of view?

[curlyqlink]

I have not read Pamela, but I did read Richardson's Clarissa. It is impressive, for many reasons. The notion of such a long novel, written in the form of correspondence, being the first. It tried my patience at times, but it is a novel of considerable subtlety and insight.

I would consider this a feminist novel. Odd, considering the age when it was written. Also that it was written by a man. Richardson is very sympathetic towards the plight of Clarissa, and he sees her plight as a social ill, not an individual one. At the same time, he does not see her as an innocent victim. She is arguably complicit in her own destruction. This makes Richardson rise above Dickens, who in my opinion was often guilty of the sin of sentimentality.

This was a memorable novel, I read it many years ago and it has stuck with me. Curious, because I have a mind like a sieve. I'd like to have a go at Pamela one of these days.

[dfloyd]

which says The End. And don't even think about starting Clarissa. Stick to reading that great American author Edgar Rice Burroughs.

[Wilde woman]

The first half, because I felt it more believable than the second half. After all Mr. B puts Pamela through (kidnapping her, forcing her to live with Mrs. Jewkes), I found it completely implausible that she ends up falling in love with him.

And Henry Fielding's satires of Pamela, Shamela and Joseph Andres, are both hilarious. Mr. Booby, indeed! :lol:

BTW, my name is Pamela and my friends and I have a running joke. They know I'm a lit major so they keep giving me copies of the book...so I now have like 3 or 4 copies.

[bree]

I didn't think I enjoyed reading Pamela, I had to read it for an essay I was writing. But I wrote the essay before finishing it and still had to read to the end so, it couldn't have been that bad. I think the second half must have been better though or I would not have kept reading.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Oh hi Bree, I managed to get to the end of the novel too, I still have the scars to prove it! It is a pretty dire novel though and mostly only studied because of its importance to the development of the novel form and not for much else.

Oh and Wilde Woman (is that taken from our Oscar?) I'll send you my copy when I've finished my degree to make it five. Not one I'll hang on to.

[Silas Thorne]

which says The End. And don't even think about starting Clarissa. Stick to reading that great American author Edgar Rice Burroughs.

:lol: The wonderful poetry of Burroughs' awkward prose!

Yes. Throw Mr. Richardson in Tarzan's jungle and after five seconds (which is all you seem to need in a Burrough's jungle) let all the wild tigers and panthers and giant monster gorillas tear him into pieces. I remember contemplating suicide too after being forced to read Clarissa in English class. :) I much preferred the Gothic novel.

[bree]

Hi Neely, I totally agree. I really enjoyed Frances Burney's Evelina, though written in the same form only about thirty years later. I suppose it gives the same message but in a more entertaining way.

[Wilde woman]

Oh and Wilde Woman (is that taken from our Oscar?) I'll send you my copy when I've finished my degree to make it five. Not one I'll hang on to.

Yup, my name is indeed after Mr. Oscar Wilde.

Haha, I don't think I need another copy. I don't particularly like the novel, though I don't think it's as bad as everyone says.

[Silas Thorne]

Yup, my name is indeed after Mr. Oscar Wilde.

Haha, I don't think I need another copy. I don't particularly like the novel, though I don't think it's as bad as everyone says.

Oh come on, it's about as much fun as naked butt-surfing on a large cheesegrater.

Love the Wilde one's work though.

[mmaria]

Maybe I am weird, but what kept me reading this novel was the author's very effective way of persuading the readers (the novel had been intended for) of his ideas. I am not supporting the ideas he suggests, they belong to a rather remote past, but the way in which he does is really remarkable.