This novel written by Samuel Richardson, was published in 1748. It is written in epsitolary style. This style had just started to be in fashion. It was this writer who used it for the first time in "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" published eight years before "Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady".
The Enciclopedia Britanica defines the epistolary novel like: "a novel told through the medium of letters written by one or more of the characters. Originating with Samuel Richardson’s Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (1740)".
"The advantages of the novel in letter form are that it presents an intimate view of the character’s thoughts and feelings without interference from the author and that it conveys the shape of events to come with dramatic immediacy. Also, the presentation of events from several points of view lends the story dimension and verisimilitude. Though the method was most often a vehicle for sentimental novels, it was not limited to them. Of the outstanding examples of the form, Richardson’s Clarissa (1748) has tragic intensity, Tobias Smollett’s "Humphry Clinker" (1771) is a picaresque comedy and social commentary, and Fanny Burney’s "Evelina" (1778) is a novel of manners"
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/190331/epistolary-novel
Humphrey Clinker! Odio esa novela! (salgo corriendo por los pasillos cada vez que oigo ese nombre). Y eso que HC no aparecía hasta la mitad y era el único que no te daba la vara con sus cartas.
ReplyDelete