Tag Archives: Samuel Richardson

Rom-Coms, Defense against Heartbreak

One way of seeing “Tom Jones” is as “valentine armor,” alternating between romance and light satire. As such, it saves us from broken hearts.

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A Christian Attack on Toxic Masculinity

In “Sir Charles Grandison,” Richardson attacks toxic masculinity in ways that feel very modern.

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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.”

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Johnson: Read the Bard, Not Tom Jones

I share the Samuel Johnson chapter from my book-in-progress.

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“Clarissa” Taught the Age Empathy

A new book argues that epistolary novels, especially “Clarissa,” taught the 18th century empathy.

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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.

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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.

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Comedy & Sentiment, a Potent Mixture

Literature that moves the heart seems opposed to comedy, but sometimes they work together.

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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.

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