Clarissa Harlowe, or the History of a Young Lady
2004
First Published
3.27
Average Rating
863
Number of Pages
First published in 1748, "Clarissa" is the long and tragic tale of the ever-virtuous Miss Clarissa Harlowe. Though her family, newly wealthy, wishes to enter the aristocracy, they can only do so by marrying Clarissa to an unrefined and loveless man. She is soon offered protection from the selfish motives of her family by Robert Lovelace, who tricks Clarissa into running away with him. Though witty and urbane, Lovelace soon proves himself a villainous rake, eager to strike out at the Harlowes by making sexual advances on their highly moral daughter. Clarissa repeatedly refuses the vague offers of marriage Lovelace gives her, deceiving herself by denying her physical attraction to him, yet holding true to her belief in virtue, even as she grows increasingly ill from the stress of her situation. A masterful epistolary novel, "Clarissa" is a tragic heroine who remains true to her quest for virtue to the very end. Contained in this book is the first of two volumes.
Avg Rating
3.27
Number of Ratings
26
5 STARS
19%
4 STARS
27%
3 STARS
27%
2 STARS
15%
1 STARS
12%
goodreads
Author
Samuel Richardson
Author · 15 books
Pamela (1740) and Clarissa Harlowe (1748) of English writer Samuel Richardson helped to legitimize the novel as a literary form in English. People best know major 18th-century epistolary novels Sir Charles Grandison (1753). Richardson, an established printer and publisher for most of his life, at the age of 51 years then wrote his first novel; people immediately most admired him of his time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel\_...
