Samuel Richardson's "Clarissa"

[invisible]

has anyone else read Samuel Richardson's novel "Clarissa"? i read it last year, it took me several months, but i really enjoyed it. i think that the main reason that it isnt widely read anymore is due to its tremendous length and people just dont want to invest that much time and energy into consuming a single work of art, regardless of how fine it is. i did think "Clarissa" was a great artistic achievement on all levels. for example i feel like its language is in its own class, and the way that the characters used language was distinct and unique to all of those characters. i could really feel its literary influence when i was reading it, like i could really sense its impact on Austen.

one weird thing about the way that people respond to it (probably usually people who havent actually read it, but just know of it) is that they have this idea that its some kind of smutty fantasy of sexual violence. i find that very strange because there is very little description of sex in it, and the description that is there is very brief and is not exactly explicit. but from the things people say about it, youd expect something pornographic.

i got very involved with the character of Clarissa. she was probably the only character ive read in literature who really struck me as an INFJ. the thing that struck me most as INFJ is that she threatens Lovelace that he has damaged her essential goodness and that she is afraid of taking revenge on him. i thought it was really an INFJ thing, to lose control emotionally when taken advantage of, but to warn the person beforehand of the revenge that might follow.

anyway, would be interested to hear any thoughts, if anyone has read it.

 

[invisible]

after "Clarissa", Austen becomes really boring. boring boring boring, never read again.

 

[La Sagna]

after "Clarissa", Austen becomes really boring. boring boring boring, never read again.

I've always found Jane Austen boring to read. I've never read Clarissa. I'll have to do that since it sounds like a book I would enjoy. Have you ever read Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy? I loved that book. Tess does seem very INFJ to me.

 

[invisible]

Austen! boring! how dare we call Austen boring!

no i havent read it, i have to.

 

[invisible]

Sense & Sensibility was disappointing but all the others were good. Mansfield Park was the closest to Clarissa in the sense that it created the most distinct and realistic personality. Persuasion was her literary masterwork though, because it made a case for equality independently of historical circumstances and of the narrative form she was writing in.

 

[La Sagna]

Austen! boring! how dare we call Austen boring!

no i havent read it, i have to.

I know, but I don't care, she is boring.

Thomas Hardy is definitely worth a read. He's one of my favourties. I think you will really enjoy it.

 

[La Sagna]

Sense & Sensibility was disappointing but all the others were good. Mansfield Park was the closest to Clarissa in the sense that it created the most distinct and realistic personality. Persuasion was her literary masterwork though, because it made a case for equality independently of historical circumstances and of the narrative form she was writing in.

I haven't read Persuasion, maybe I should, and it might explain why people think she's so great. Emma was just a spoiled brat who drove me crazy! I had a difficult time finishing the book.

 

[invisible]

dont be too hard on Emma! we all have to learn sometime.

 

[La Sagna]

Yes, of course, but Tess is so wise...

“So each had a private little sun for her soul to bask in; some dream, some affection, some hobby, or at least some remote and distant hope....”
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles

“Don't think of what's past!" said she. "I am not going to think outside of now. Why should we! Who knows what tomorrow has in store? ”
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles

“If an offense come out of the truth, better is it that the offense come than that the truth be concealed.”
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles

“Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?"
"Yes."
"All like ours?"
"I don't know, but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound - a few blighted."
"Which do we live on - a splendid one or a blighted one?"
"A blighted one.”
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles

“Beauty lay not in the thing, but in what the thing symbolized.”
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles

 

[La Sagna]

Now that I have been reminded of Thomas Hardy I feel an urge to go and read his novels that I have not read yet, and re-read Tess of the D'Ubervilles. I don't usually re-read books but I think I will.

 

[invisible]

a lot of people say this novel isnt relevant anymore. tonight on tv i was watching this program about a recently convicted murderer. he was 45 and married but having an affair with a much younger woman. she broke it off but he wouldnt leave her alone so she moved away and hid from him. he stalked her, ambushed her outside her apartment and rushed her inside, cut open her throat with her own kitchen knife and then drove it right through her chest to the handle. her neighbours were outside pounding on the door and he fled over the balcony and got a plane back to his city. they were showing this chilling footage of him after he was caught being interviewed for evidence, giving all these ridiculous explanations about what happened. and i was thinking, how can people say that this novel is no longer relevant. they see so much of whats changed since then, all i can see is what hasnt changed.