Clarissa, Or, The True Story of My Reading in 2012
by Charlotte Reads Classics
Merry Christmas! I hope it was wonderful for everyone. Mine was a very relaxing couple of days with family and I enjoyed it immensely.
As Christmas seems a concluding event to the year, it seemed especially satisfying that on Boxing Day I finished reading Clarissa. Yes, ours had been a year long affair, but like her family I neglected her terribly in the summer months. Now it is all over I feel quite sad but luckily I have the sense of achievement for comfort. Clarissa is an excellent read. Yes, really. If you want to be convinced to buy it, this is o’s post that convinced me.
Very well read.
When I started reading it back in January I was overwhelmed. The language was tricky and dense and despite my enthusiasm not a lot was going on in terms of plot. I read a few pages here and there until April, when I put the book down. And it stayed down. From time to time I would look at it sitting on my bookshelf and feel a bit guilty, but I started my War Books project so I wasn’t inspired to pick it back up. I knew that to finish it, I would have to read nothing but Clarissa until the bitter end and I wasn’t in the mood. Then came November and the awareness that I would have to start now or never if I didn’t want to be dragging my old reads into the new year. Funnily enough, I had managed to stop at just the moment Clarissa gets exciting. (Clever, me.) I made my schedule and stuck to it – actually I beat it slightly – and here we are.
Clarissa has got to be the ultimate classic: One of the very first European novels and one of Jane Austen’s favourite writers. I’m not quite sure why it is so neglected. Yes, it is incredibly long but that doesn’t stop us reading War and Peace or Les Misérables. Rather amusingly, in the Author’s Note at the end Richardson justifies the length of the novel by claiming that the details are what makes the story realistic and enjoyable, therefore why would you complain about getting a complete picture? (Incidentally on the Jane Austen note, there is a clergyman who is sent to check up on Clarissa who I’m sure must have been a basis for Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice.)
I wasn’t sure I would warm to Clarissa herself in the early stages because she’s so virtuous. I completely did, though. I fell for her hook line and sinker. I don’t want to spoil the plot for anyone still ploughing through it, but what other end could there have been for her? And for Lovelace? The way the family separates and takes sides is so convincing and so much more interesting from only getting it through odd perspectives. I took sides too – I was always pleased when I turned the page and the next letter was one from Miss Howe or Mr Belford. The presence of Richardson at all was slightly mystifying because it really, honestly felt like I was reading real letters. Perhaps an obvious comment to make, but the characters are like Tolstoy’s – genuine people who change and adapt over time.
For a lot of this book I was only looking forward to finishing: I was counting pages and scheduling time. However, when I realised I was onto the final ten pages, I was gutted. I was so sad that something I had been carrying around and thinking about all year was leaving me. Read Clarissa for its characters and richness, for it’s often surprising plot, for its family drama, for its place in history, for its descriptions of a world far removed yet not so dissimilar from our own.
Just make sure you read it.
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Congratulations on finishing it. I’m looking at my copy just now and… should I or shouldn’t I stop? I have the same feelings as you do, though yesterday night when I was reading on, I felt like I was illegally peeking into someone’s private life and secrets and it made it even more exciting! But yes, at this stage there is very little plot and you hardly remember that it was written by Richardson himself. I think I’m going to look up all your Clarissa posts to see how you’ve divided it up: I wanted not to make a schedule, but I think I will after all. Congratulations!
No words, just so happy you loved it! 😀
I have already Clarissa – a long time ago now. I actually read it straight – ie it was the only book I had on the go at the time. I am amazed at myself now looking back, and wonder how much I got out of it. I can’t remember how long it took me – less than a month though I think. I remember bits of it – and I too had to get used to the language. Overall though I do remember enjoying it – glad you did too. As time goes on I find I rereading more and more – I really don’t think though that Clarissa will be one I want to re-read. Once was probably enough.
Excellent!! Congratulations on finishing. I think your strategy is the best – Clarissa must receive the reader’s undivided attention.
you’ve convinced me !
Hurrah! I’m inspired to consider reading it. That’s all I can give you for now…early novels not really my thing 🙂
Great to read about it it even I dare not yet indulge, struggling with long difficult books in November slowed me down to the point of almost not reading, I need to get the rhythm back before tackling anything too challenging.
Congratulations! I finished a few weeks ago and I understand that feeling of loss when you reach the final page and have to leave the characters behind after spending so much time with them.
Wonderful! Now you are ready to move on to Sir Charles Grandison, also by Richardson, Austen’s favorite novel. Now there is a neglected book.
You might also enjoy a favorite essay of mine (the link is to a PDF), “Before I Read Clarissa I Was Nobody: Aspirational Reading and Samuel Richardson’s Great Novel” by Judith Pascoe, a professor who regularly taught an all-Clarissa class.
Glad this was worth it in the end. Still not sure I want to read it – I did start once but couldn’t really get into it
[…] Richardson, Clarissa – the ultimate […]
Congratulations! You tempt me to read it, but I already have so many other temptations on the reading front.
Thank you! 😀