Name: Pamela or, Virtue Rewarded
Author: Samuel Richardson
ISBN: 9780548167946

About This Book

Published in November 1740, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson is widely considered one of the first true English novels. The story is told through the letters of fifteen-year-old Pamela Andrews, a serving girl whose master subjects her to escalating attempts at seduction after the death of his mother. The result was the first bestseller in English fiction history, spawning imitations, stage adaptations, and Henry Fielding's satirical riposte Shamela. Its influence extended across Europe, shaping the development of sentimental fiction in France, Germany, and beyond. For students of the English novel's origins, a turning point in literary history.

Excerpt

Dear Father and Mother, I have great trouble, and some comfort, to acquaint you with. The trouble is, that my good lady died of the illness I mentioned to you, and left us all much grieved for the loss of her; for she was a dear good lady, and kind to all us her servants.— Opening of Pamela or, Virtue Rewarded

About the Author

Samuel Richardson

1689 – 1761

Samuel Richardson (1689–1761) was an English printer and novelist who pioneered the epistolary form and reshaped European fiction. Apprenticed to a London printer at seventeen, he built a successful business before turning to literature at fifty. His first novel, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), caused a sensation with its intimate portrayal of a servant girl resisting her master's advances, told entirely through letters. Its successor, Clarissa (1748), is often regarded as the greatest English novel of the eighteenth century — a tragic, psychologically penetrating work spanning over a million words. Richardson's final novel, Sir Charles Grandison (1753), offered a portrait of the ideal gentleman. His technique of writing "to the moment" influenced writers across Europe, from Rousseau to Goethe, and his exploration of female consciousness opened paths that fiction is still travelling today.

Publication Details

First Published	2007
Publisher	Kessinger Publishing, LLC
Pages	366
ISBN	9780548167946
Language	English
Genre	Fiction, Enlightenment, Classics
Copyright	Public Domain
Open Library	View editions
Collection	Munsey's Classic & Rare Books