Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady (1747)

Robert Lovelace, a wealthy "libertine" and heir to a substantial estate, begins to court Arabella, Clarissa's older sister. However, she rejects him because she felt slighted by his more ardent interest in her parents' approval than in her. Lovelace quickly moves on from Arabella to Clarissa, much to the displeasure of Arabella and their brother James. Clarissa insists that she dislikes Lovelace, but Arabella grows jealous of Lovelace's interest in the younger girl. James, also, dislikes Lovelace greatly because of a duel the two had once fought. These feelings combine with resentment that their grandfather had left Clarissa a piece of land and lead the siblings to be aggressive to Clarissa. The entire Harlowe family is in favour of her marrying Roger Solmes, however Clarissa finds Solmes to be unpleasant company and does not wish to marry him, either. This makes her family suspicious of her supposed dislike of Lovelace and they begin to disbelieve her. ( )

Talk about Rape Culture. This book had me FURIOUS! Furious with antiquated men who created impossible laws and cultural structures that made it impossible for women to not take the blame for anything. So many people in this book should have been prosecuted for abuse. It was just sick.

That being said... Clarissa wasn't perfect either. The end reminded me of an opera. There's always the woman with consumption who sings for 20 minutes before she dies. Such was Clarissa. ( )

Not a book I liked. not the story, not the way of writing, I'm happy to be done! ( )

I AM FINISHED!!!! This book is both enormous and slow-moving and took me a month to get through.

It's also utterly aggravating to spend so much time with a selfish, spoiled man who gaslights a vulnerable and naive young woman who does not wish to be married off to acquire her family a bigger fortune. In short, there are 537 letters filled with stories of work and faintings, self-love, and much shaming of women.

The libertines in Samuel Richardson's novels are neither sympathetic nor commendable men, but at least Pamela's Mr. B. (called Booby by Henry Fielding, WHICH SO FITS) does kooky stunts, like cross-dressing as a maid, in order to grab Pamela's breast. Mr. Lovelace just gaslights Clarissa until the infamous rape scene, and OMG, it's too much like real life and sooooo exhausting. ( )

An epistolary novel, one of the first, I believe. It is of astonishing sameness, but is a fine example of 1740's soft porn. ( )