One way of seeing “Tom Jones” is as “valentine armor,” alternating between romance and light satire. As such, it saves us from broken hearts.
Tag Archives: Samuel Richardson
Rom-Coms, Defense against Heartbreak
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Comedy, Don Quixote, Henry Fielding, Miguel de Cervantes, Pamela, Romantic Comedy, Shamela, Tom Jones Comments closed
A Christian Attack on Toxic Masculinity
In “Sir Charles Grandison,” Richardson attacks toxic masculinity in ways that feel very modern.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Clarissa, dueling, Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, Joseph Andrews, Northanger Abbey, Pamela, Shamela, Sir Charles Grandison, Tom Jones, toxic masculinity Comments closed
Lit Steels Spines in Face of Pressure
One answer to how Austen’s Fanny Price resists the unrelenting family pressure to marry Crawford: she has read Richardson’s “Clarissa.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Clarissa, Family, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Marriage Comments closed
Johnson: Read the Bard, Not Tom Jones
I share the Samuel Johnson chapter from my book-in-progress.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aristotle, Clarissa, Henry Fielding, Horace, Plato, Republic, Samuel Johnson, Tom Jones, William Shakespeare Comments closed
“Clarissa” Taught the Age Empathy
A new book argues that epistolary novels, especially “Clarissa,” taught the 18th century empathy.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Clarissa, Daniel Defoe, Denise Diderot, empathy, Enlightenment, Humphrey Clinker, Moll Flanders, Roxana Comments closed
Boredom + Sadism Drove Trumpists
Boredom + sadism characterized Trumpism. The dynamic shows up in Samuel Richardson’s “Clarissa.” The country will hopefully flee back to maturity.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged boredom, Clarissa, Justine, Marquis de Sade, sadism, Trumpism Comments closed
Using Novels for Sexual Assualt
In Sanditon the novel, unlike the television series, the villainous Sir Edward Denham reads novels. He learns the wrong lessons from Samuel Richardson, however.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Clarissa, Daniel Defoe, Jane Austen, Moll Flanders, Pamela, rakes, Sanditon, seduction, sexual assault Comments closed
Comedy & Sentiment, a Potent Mixture
Literature that moves the heart seems opposed to comedy, but sometimes they work together.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Charles Dickens, Clarissa, Comedy, couples comedy, Henry Fielding, Henry MacKenzie, Jane Austen, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Man of Feeling, Old Curiosity Shop, Oscar Wilde, romantic comedy age of sensibility, Sense and Sensibility, Thomas Hobbes, Tom Jones Comments closed
Castro As Lovelace, Knight As Clarissa
The dueling statements of Michelle Knight and her Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro were like a novel with multiple points of view.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ariel Castro, Clarissa, Cleveland kidnapping, Collector, John Fowles, Michelle Knight Comments closed
