Challenging the view that Samuel Richardson's eighteenth-century epistolary novel Clarissa is a shapeless sequence of letters, this book argues that the novel has an action structure consisting of five act-like movements that emerge from the round robin transfer of narrative dominance: from the interiorizing drama enacted on the epistolary stage first by Clarissa's, then by Lovelace's self-reflections on just-past events, to Belford's more conventionally novelistic other-reflective narrative that ends the history. This book contrasts Clarissa's use of soliloquy to achieve self-understanding with Lovelace's employment of dramatic monologue to enable self-deception. Finally, Miss Howe's and Belford's performances in epistolary friendship are evaluated.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Peter Lang
ISBN-13
9780820451626
eBay Product ID (ePID)
128850139
Product Key Features
Book Title
Clarissa's Narrators
Author
Victor J. Lams
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Literature, Psychology
Publication Year
2001
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
172 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
230mm
Item Width
160mm
Volume
194
Item Weight
390g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Victor J. Lams
Issn
0724-1453
Series Title
American University Studies Series 4: English Language and Literature