Samuel Richardson

-
Standard Name: Richardson, Samuel
SR 's three epistolary novels, published between 1740 and 1753, exerted an influence on women's writing which was probably stronger than that of any other novelist, male or female, of the century. He also facilitated women's literary careers in his capacity as member of the publishing trade, and published a letter-writing manual and a advice-book for printers' apprentices.
Stipple engraving of Samuel Richardson, used by Anna Letitia Barbauld in her edition of Richardson's correspondence. He is standing with his right hand tucked into his jacket and a book in his left hand; in the related painting by Joseph Highmore, Richardson holds a paper instead of a book.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Literary responses Lady Charlotte Bury
Edward Copeland argues that this text, though designed to ride the wave of the new silver-fork novel, draws its influences from an earlier generation: Frances Burney , Susan Ferrier , and Richardson 's Sir Charles...
Literary responses Eliza Haywood
In the Monthly Review, Ralph Griffiths passed a judgement which was inflected against Betsy Thoughtless by issues of gender. He guessed that the author was female because of the novel's attention to matters of...
Literary responses May Laffan
Overlooking the weak management of the plot because the main aim of the author is a social picture, the Athenæum called Christy Carew a truthful account of Dublin society told in such a way that...
Literary responses Mary Lamb
In reading The Father's Wedding-day, Walter Savage Landor said he pressed my temples with both hands, and tears ran down to my elbows.. He read this story over and over again,
qtd. in
Burton, Sarah. A Double Life: A Biography of Charles and Mary Lamb. Viking, 2003.
244
and...
Literary responses Marghanita Laski
The Times Literary Supplement called this novel a sad and cautionary idyll, and yet [a]ltogether a witty lark.
Charques, Richard Denis. “Mayfair Comedy”. Times Literary Supplement, No. 2235, 2 Dec. 1944, p. 581.
581
Critic Phyllis Lassner compares ML 's Clarissa to Samuel Richardson 's, noting that both heroines are...
Literary responses Elizabeth Griffith
The original letters were immensely popular with readers (among others Sarah Harriet Burney was a devotee); their authors became famous under their pseudonyms. Not everyone agreed in admiring them, however. Lady Bradshaigh remarked to Samuel Richardson
Literary responses Jane West
When the fourth volume appeared in 1789, the Critical found it heavy, languid and uninteresting, and judged the serial publication to have been a mistake.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
68 (1789): 495
Andrew Becket in the Monthly and Mary Wollstonecraft
Literary responses Sarah Chapone
SC 's friend and printer Richardson saw her project in a different and far more simple light than she did: as the administering by a good woman of an antidote to the Poison shed by...
Literary responses Mary Leapor
This volume attracted attention from Samuel Richardson , Christopher Smart , and the young William Cowper , as well as from its chief promoters, John Duncombe and Susanna Highmore .
Rizzo, Betty. “Molly Leapor: An Anxiety for Influence”. The Age of Johnson, edited by Paul J. Korshin, Vol.
4
, 1991, pp. 313-43.
327-8
Literary responses Amelia Opie
The Critical Review, which had praised AO 's earlier work, thought this novel equally well done, and that the description of the heroine's death could stand comparison with those of Richardson 's Clarissa or...
Literary responses Anne Halkett
This work is the basis of AH 's reputation. The publication of 1875 provoked some biographical and critical comment, but less than might have been expected.
Halkett, Anne, and Ann, Lady Fanshawe. “Preface, Introduction, Select Bibliography”. The Memoirs of Anne, Lady Halkett and Ann, Lady Fanshawe, edited by John Loftis, Clarendon Press, 1979, p. v - xxi.
xix
Editor John Loftis praised AH 's fluent prose...
Literary responses Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Henry James 's review in 1865 considered Braddon's success alongside that of Collins , pronouncing her the founder of the sensation novel (defined as devising domestic mysteries adapted to the wants of a sternly prosaic...
Literary responses Sarah Fielding
Samuel Richardson respected The Cry as a new Species of Writing, sent copies to two friends (Sophia Wescomb and Dorothy, Lady Bradshaigh ), and wanted it to go into a second edition—
Londry, Michael. “Our dear Miss Jenny Collier”. Times Literary Supplement, 5 Mar. 2004, pp. 13-14.
13
Literary responses Anne Marsh
Chorley 's Athenæum review is remarkable for two things: for the vehemence with which he praised the novel's plotting and the climactic scene of preparations for the wedding (which he quoted at length, only regretting...
Literary responses Frances Sheridan
The novel in its first form was hugely successful: it brought FS instant fame. Johnson teasingly expressed doubts about her moral right to make your readers suffer so much.
qtd. in
Sheridan, Frances. “Introduction”. Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, edited by Jean Coates Cleary et al., World’s Classics, Oxford University Press, 1995.
xi
Boswell praised the Christian morality...

Timeline

No timeline events available.

Texts

No bibliographical results available.