Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson ( born August 19, 1689 Mackworth, Derbyshire, England; † July 4, 1761 in London ) was an English writer.
Life
Richardson was born the son of a carpenter and initially trained as a typographer. He has been very successful as a printer and publisher in London and brought it to the print shop owner, when he got the job in the age of 50 in 1740 to compose a collection of sample letters for young ladies. The work on this letter-writer, which was eventually published in 1741 under the title of Familiar Letters, Richardson suggested to write an epistolary novel.
The work titled Pamela or rewarded virtue from 1740 in which a virtuous servant girl against the rough and brutal harassment of their Lord must defend himself, after all, converted his morally depraved Lord, and it is then possible to marry him, was immediately a great success. The novel not only founded the genre of the sentimental novel, is one of the most famous German examples Goethe's Werther, but was also one of the seminal works in the history of the novel, since throughout a subjective voice supplanted the omniscient narrator for the first time.
The work also founded the school of sentimental literature. Against this kind of sensitivity it soon developed an opposition that came for example, in Henry Fielding's parody Shamela (1741 ) expressed that denounced moral hypocrisy and jammed ambiguities of the book. However, the success of Richardson's novel did not affect that. A total of 22 years ( 1739-1761 ) revised Pamela Richardson ( 1739/40 ) and always kept sound and aesthetics of the progressive era in mind. He therefore not only marked its beginning, but wrote their development with literary history.
His next book, Clarissa or, The History of a Young Lady ( 1748) sold even better than Pamela - even though it consisted of 547 letters and a length of over one million words had - which was the longest novel of its time. Consequently, it was attracted by the contemporary authors to a detailed discussion, such as by Henry Fielding's sister Sarah Fielding ( Remarks on Clarissa. , 1749 ), which remained well-disposed Richardson despite the satirical criticism of her brother. Richardson's epistolary novel Sir Charles Grandison third (1753 ) presented in contrast to the two predecessors, a man at the center of the action, and a good man also. Goods Pamela and Clarissa ever been the victim of evil, lecherous men, Richardson designs in his last novel, Sir Charles Grandison in the image of the ideal Christian gentleman. Also, this novel was, although he was again slightly longer than Clarissa, a great success. Jean -Jacques Rousseau followed up on Richardson's successes with his Julie or the New Heloise by in 1761.
Also in Germany Richardsons letter novels were widely read and exerted influence. So Sir Charles Grandison Cornelia Goethe's favorite book because she identified with the figure of Harriet Byron. The first attempt of a German epistolary novel started Fear God Christian Gellert with the book Life of the Swedish Countess of G *** ( 1750). An enormous success was able to record the history of Miss Sternheim (1771 ) by Sophie von La Roche. This is leaning against Richardson story of a fallen girl or young lady had worked as a model for Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774 ) are of importance. Production German letter novels did not break off with the sensibility, but handed down to the time of Weimar Classicism: Friedrich Schiller's sister Caroline of Wolzogen published in 1797 (initially anonymous) her novel Agnes of Lily, who recorded many elements of Richardson's novels and temporarily Schiller or. Goethe was attributed. Great influence had Richardson's novels Pamela and Clarissa also on the German bourgeois tragedy in his early, sensitive phase, such as in Lessing's Miss Sara Sampson (1755 ) or arrow Lucie Woodvil (1756 ).
Although Richardson's novels today appeal to only a few readers, but his literary-historical importance was enormous. So just as the French philosopher and writer Denis Diderot was an admirer of his works such as the novels Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740 ) and Clarissa (1748 ). In Diderot's writing Éloge de Richardson (1760 ), he praised Richardson's original detail with respect to the everyday things, and because he was able to portray moral issues visual and exciting the everyday events of his fellow men. Also did his novels the reader forget that it was a fiction.
He first laid out in a novel focus entirely on the inner drama of the characters rather than the external act, and he first designed a detailed psychological portrait of a female main character. Thus, Richardson led the way for later writers such as Jane Austen, Henry James, the Brontë sisters, Thomas Hardy, and even more for John Cleland and DH Lawrence.
Intertextual references
In his introduction to his story, a magnanimous act takes Friedrich Schiller explicitly on the two texts " Sir Charles Grandison " and " Pamela, or Virtue rewarded " with respect and hopes that his text may leave the reader warmer.
Works (selection)
- Pamela or, Virtue Rewarded. (1740 )
- Clarissa or, The History of a Young Lady. ( 1747/48 ) German translation by Johann David Michaelis, Vandenhoeck, Göttingen 1767-1770 Vol 1 ( digitized and full text in German Text Archive )
- Vol 2 ( and digitized full text in German Text Archive )
- Vol 3 ( digitized and full text in German Text Archive )
- Vol 4 ( digitized and full text in German Text Archive )
- Vol 6 ( digitized and full text in German Text Archive )
- Vol 8: Supplement ( digitized and full text in German Text Archive )
Film adaptations of his works
With Ann Michelle as Pamela Andrews and Julian Barnes as Lord Robert Devenish ( Mr. B )
Saskia Wickham as Clarissa and Sean Bean as Robert Lovelace
- 2003 - Italian telenovela by Cinzia TH Torrini: Elisa Elisa di or Rivombrosa
The popular telenovela Elisa di Rivombrosa was told on the novel Pamela. The story takes place in the second half of the 18th century in Turin. The role of Pamela is that of Elisa Scalzi (played by Vittoria Puccini ) in the telenovela. The role of Mr. B is that of Count Fabrizio Ristori (played by Alessandro Preziosi ).