Samuel Richardson

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Standard Name: Richardson, Samuel
SR 's three epistolary novels, published between 1740 and 1753, exerted an influence on women's writing which was probably stronger than that of any other novelist, male or female, of the century. He also facilitated women's literary careers in his capacity as member of the publishing trade, and published a letter-writing manual and a advice-book for printers' apprentices.
Stipple engraving of Samuel Richardson, used by Anna Letitia Barbauld in her edition of Richardson's correspondence. He is standing with his right hand tucked into his jacket and a book in his left hand; in the related painting by Joseph Highmore, Richardson holds a paper instead of a book.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Textual Features Sarah Fielding
Whereas Samuel Richardson had criticised William Whitehead 's The Roman Father, saying that it validated personal feeling at the expense of patriotism, the author of the pamphlet takes issue with Richardson and defends Whitehead's...
Textual Features Catherine Talbot
CT 's letters often convey her literary opinions, discussing writing by, for instance, Marie de Sévigné , Richardson , Henry Fielding and Samuel Johnson . She also writes of the details of her daily life...
Textual Features Frances Reynolds
FR pays particular attention to his relations with women, individually and in general: Johnson set a higher value upon female friendship than, perhaps, most men.
Reynolds, Frances. “Recollections of Dr. Johnson”. Johnsonian Miscellanies, edited by George Birkbeck Hill and George Birkbeck Hill, Clarendon Press, 1897, pp. 2: 250 - 300.
2: 252
She remarks on the paternal affection he entertained...
Textual Features Sophia Lee
The plot in some ways echoes that of Richardson 's Pamela. Cecilia Rivers, orphan daughter of a poor and saintly clergyman, comes down in the world and has to earn her living as a...
Textual Features Anita Brookner
AB addresses her topic with gusto: The slashing and irreverent critics, often totally unqualified and inaccurate, now stand before us slightly scarred by the verdicts of posterity.
Brookner, Anita. The Genius of the Future. Phaidon, 1971.
2
Not a historian of literature so much...
Textual Features Elizabeth Carter
As a youngster of twenty-one (in May 1739), EC addressed the eminent businessman Edward Cavebreezily, mingling the domestic and the literary.
qtd. in
Chisholm, Kate. “Bluestocking Feminism”. New Rambler, 2003, pp. 60-6.
63
In her mature correspondence with Elizabeth Montagu both writers discuss their...
Textual Features Lady Mary Walker
The title character, Eliza de Crui, sets the tone for discussion by writing from Brussels to Mrs Pierpont at Liège with the remark that, since it is so hard to say anything new, she will...
Textual Features Elizabeth Fenton
Fenton sets out to paint a a familiar picture of the everyday occurrences, manners, and habits of life of persons undistinguished either by wealth or fame
Fenton, Elizabeth. The Journal of Mrs. Fenton. Editor Lawrence, Sir Henry, Edward Arnold, 1901.
1-2
in British India. But this is largely unfulfilled...
Textual Features Jane Porter
JP opens her story in early 1792, on the eve of Poland's unsuccessful bid for independence in the Kościuszko Uprising, and continues it in London, which was beginning to function as a haven...
Textual Features Sue Townsend
Townsend expresses sympathy over what she assumes to have been the pain and humiliation caused to Sheridan and other women writers by compulsory anonymity.
Townsend, Sue, and Frances Sheridan. “Introduction”. Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, Pandora Press, 1987, p. ix - xi.
ix
Being no scholar, she did not know how commonly authors...
Textual Features Eliza Kirkham Mathews
This novel, an interesting response to Samuel Richardson , is quite unlike any writing by EKM . Another novel by the same hand, Perplexities; or, The Fortunate Elopement, appeared by December 1794.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press, 2000, 2 vols.
1: 618
Textual Features Charlotte Lennox
Arabella is a reading heroine. Brought up on her dead mother's collection of French romances, she has been savouring a universal power over men, which exists only in her imagination. For this reason she scorns...
Textual Production Anna Letitia Barbauld
ALB 's edition of Samuel Richardson 's Correspondence appeared in six volumes; she abridged the letters she chose by an average of about 30% and changed at least one or two words in all of them.
McCarthy, William et al. “Introduction”. The Poems of Anna Letitia Barbauld, University of Georgia Press, 1994, p. xxi - xlvi.
xlv
McCarthy, William. “What Did Anna Barbauld Do to Richardson’s Correspondence? A Study of Her Editing”. Studies in Bibliography: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, Vol.
54
, 2001, pp. 191-23.
Textual Production Sarah Scott
SS and Lady Barbara Montagu published through Samuel Richardson a set of educational cards for teaching history and geography.
Rizzo, Betty, and Sarah Scott. “Introduction”. The History of Sir George Ellison, University Press of Kentucky, 1996, p. ix - xlv.
xxii-xxiii, xliv
Textual Production Mehetabel Wright
Many of her poems, sent to relations, seem to have been lost in transit. Only a handful have been identified, though there may be more to come. Some which do survive are to be found...

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