BOOKS OR WORKS

INTRODUCTION

Richardson's work is characterized by the slowness with which the argument develops and the prominent figures are outlined, up to becoming almost palpable after a deep psychological analysis. Though his works have been forgotten, it reaches the international reputation in his epoch.

Richardson became famous by his letters and in 1739 it began to write a volume of letters I shape for the use of the readers of the country published as Family letters (1741). Meanwhile the famous novel wrote and published "Pamela or the virtue rewarded" (2 volumes, 1740), that narrates in the shape of letters the history of a young maiden obliged to defend his honor. Clarissa (7 volumes, 1747-1748), analyzes again and again the same events from the point of view of different prominent figures, and is considered to be his better work. As “Pamela”, this work was praised by his moral tone and his comprehension of the emotions and the feminine mind. His last important work was "A History of the gentleman Charles Grandison" (7 volumes, 1753-1754), where there presents his ideal one of the authentic Christian gentleman. All his novels are written in epistolary form, a structure that Richardson perfected and developed, and that it was allowing him to reveal the stream of consciousness of his prominent figures. For this reason she is considered to be the founder of the modern novel.

THE FIRST BOOKS

In 1733 he wrote “Young Man's Pocket Companion” (The vademécum of the apprentice, or the companion of pocket of the young man). It is a manual directed the young men, in order that they were diligent and self-sacrificing. Writing in response to " males epidemic of these times ", the text is known especially by his condemnation of popular forms of entertainment including the theatres, the taverns and the game. The manual goes to the apprentices as the point of the one that must divide the moral improvement of the society, not because he considers them to be more capable of falling down in the vice, but because, as Richardson suggests, they have major responsibility of which the society improves morally that the social top classes.

In 1739 there began to write the so called Letters of family, in English, Letters Written to and for Individual Friends on the Most Important Occasions, models of letters for the public. In two of them he learns on the virtue that the young maids must observe, considered anticipation of his most known work:"Pamela".

OTHER BOOKS

Richardson also wrote other two epistolary novels” Clarissa or the History of Young Lady” (1747-1748) and “Sir Charles Grandison” (1753).

Of the three, “Clarissa” has been the best considered one for the critics; in her, Richardson uses the epistolary form with great efficiency, creating prominent figures who are psychologically convincing at the time that they reflect some of the most important moral questions of the 18th century. The young lady, Clarissa Harlowe, who flees of the claimant proposed by her rich family to look for Robert Lovelace's protection, who ends up by forcing her and, as consequence of her actions, she dies.

The History of the gentleman Carlos Grandison was his attempt of creating a masculine model of virtue, opposite to the most inadequate Tom Jones de Henry Fielding, whom he was considering to be inadequate for young men. The young Englishman Charles Grandison is debated between two women, the English woman Harriet Byron and the Italian Clementina. Many modern critics think that his model of masculine virtue is less successful than his feminine protagonists, indicating that Sir Charles is not a very interesting personage not nicely for the current reader. In addition, the plot has fewer events and the moral lessons less ambiguous than in Clarissa. In spite of it, in his time, “Sir Charles Grandison “was also a success, and it was one of Jane Austen's favorite novels.

In 1755 it published a summary of maxims and phrases of his three novels: To Moral Collection of the and Instructive Sentiments, Maxims, Cautions, and Reflections, Contained in the Tell the history of "Pamela", "Clarissa" and "Sir Charles Grandison" (Collection of moral and instructive feelings, maxims, notices and reflections contained in the histories of Pamela, Clarissa and Sir Charles Grandison).

Richardson was considered to be one of the most important novelists of his epoch. In his works, it defends the bourgeois morality and criticizes the licentious environment and the immorality of the high class. His novels represent a few social royal circumstances, describing credible prominent figures, whose feelings, intimate tensions and psychology are analyzed by meticulousness. It influenced writers as Jane Austen, Goethe, and Rousseau.

PAMELA

Pamela (1740) describes the "virtue" as it was knowing in s. The XVIIIth, foreign to our times. Pamela Andrews is a young maid in a wealthy house. The son of the house, Mr B., fall in love for her and plot diverse intrigues, with the help of his servants, to be able to obtain it. She manages to triumph in the protection of his virtue. B., after reading the diary that “Pamela” has written privately, one sees forced to propose marriage him to obtain it.

Pamela's popularity owed principally to the effective technology of revealing the history directly for the protagonist, first across letters, and later, for his diary. This, cocktail with the moral nature of the history, made it acceptable for the ascending middle class, for what it was an immediate best seller. There uses a simple and attainable language for the reader. The epistolary form was an innovation, source of great pride for Richardson. This way it helped to reinvent a genre that had reached a doubtful enough reputation. In spite of it, many contemporary readers remained surprised by the most graphical scenes and by some behaviors debatable enough of the prominent figures; easily it could be considered to “Pamela”, for example, as a young schemer trying to ascend socially by means of the marriage with a noble young man.

Henry Fielding parodied “Pamela” two times: one anonymous using the same epistolary form in “Shamela”, and again with Joseph Andrews, who narrates the history of the chaste brother of Pamela, so called Joseph, and his efforts for protecting his virtue.

Para mas informacion consultar la pagina de referencia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Richardson