Pamela Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Richardson, Samuel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019953649X ISBN 13: 9780199536498

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2008

Synopsis

'Pamela under the Notion of being a Virtuous Modest Girl will be introduced into all Familes,and when she gets there, what Scenes does she represent? Why a fine young Gentleman endeavouring to debauch a beautiful young Girl of Sixteen.' (Pamela Censured, 1741)

One of the most spectacular successes of the burgeoning literary marketplace of eighteeent-century London, Pamela also marked a defining moment in the emergence of the modern novel. In the words of one contemporary, it divided the world 'into two different Parties, Pamelists and Antipamelists', even eclipsing the sensational factional politics of the day. Preached up for its morality, and denounced as pornography in disguise, it vividly describes a young servant's long resistance to the attempts of her predatory master to seduce her. Written in the voice of its low-born heroine, but by a printer who fifteen years earlier had narrowly escaped imprisonment for the seditious output of his press, Pamela is not only a work of pioneering psychological complexity, but also a compelling and provocative study of power and its abuse.

Based on the original text of 1740, from which Richardson later retreated in a series of defensive revisions, this edition makes available the version of Pamela that aroused such widespread controversy on its first appearance.

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

About this title

Review:

with this edition of Pamela, which will surely become the standard text, we can see more clearly why Richardson's first novel mattered so much (John Mullan, London Review of Books)

Book Description:

This new critical edition of Samuel Richardson's first novel features an authoritative text based on the first edition, general and textual introductions, extensive explanatory notes and textual apparatus. A long-awaited event in eighteenth-century studies, the publication of this volume heralds the first full scholarly edition of Richardson's compete works.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 019953649X
• ISBN 13: 9780199536498
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 554
• Editor: Keymer Thomas, Wakely Alice