Enlightenment

Henry Fielding and Samuel Richardson: ‘a new species of writing’

The novels of Henry Fielding (1707-54) and Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) written in the 1740s, form what Richardson himself called ‘a new species of writing’. Richardson’s professional background as a printer rather than journalist (as in Defoe’s case) proved fundamental in the creation of this milestone in the history of the novel, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740). Instead of journalistic biography, Richardson’s starting point was informed by cautionary tales of abused women that aroused widespread and prurient interest at the time. Written in the form of letters, Pamela depicts a single chapter in the life of a poor country girl. Pamela enters the employ of a "Mr. B." whose lust for her forms a key feature of the plot. Pamela triumphs by reforming Mr. B, after which she marries her employer and rises to the position of lady.

In addition to achieving huge success amongst the buying public, Richardson’s novel and its whiggish conception of class mobility attracted the derision of his arch rival Henry Fielding, who responded with a work entitled Shamela, or an Apology for the Life of Miss Shamela Andrews (1742).

Richardson (Samuel) Pamela, or Virtue rewarded. 4 vols. 8vo. London, 1741-1742.
[R.7.14-17]
Former owner: David Hughes (1727-77)