Samuel Richardson: Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded

• Dieter Mehl

A critical edition of the works of Samuel Richardson (1689–1761), arguably the most influential English eighteenth-century novelist, has been wanting for some time. It has, of course, to contend with difficulties of its own, caused by the sheer volume of the texts. Contemporary readers and many generations after them evidently had no problems with the considerable demands made on their time and stamina by length of the novels. These days, however, it will hardly surprise anyone to find students (and even university teachers) as well as the “general reader” needing some extra encouragement before tackling Pamela or Clarissa, let alone Sir Charles Grandison, apparently a particular favorite of Jane Austen’s.