Samuel Richardson in Context ed. by Peter Sabor and Betty A. Schellenberg (review)

This critical edition of Samuel Richardson's works and life illuminates his importance to eighteenth-century culture, the novel, and book history. As stated in the editors' preface, their aim was to create a resource for the undergraduate student and the experienced scholar alike. The thirty-seven chapters are written by leading scholars who have published on Richardson, the history of the novel, or eighteenth-century life, including Toni Bowers, Howard D. Weinbrot, Margaret Anne Doody, Albert J. Rivero, and Bonnie Latimer. The editors provide undergraduates and graduates with essays from key figures in the field as an introduction to the ongoing academic conversation on Richardson, while also providing a multitude of perspectives for the advanced researcher.

The collection, although organized into six parts, seems to be divided into two halves. Parts 1 through 4 focus on situating Richardson within book and print history, while parts 5 and 6 place his novels within certain literary traditions, genres, and subjects. The undergraduate student would benefit from the first four sections, since they provide the necessary context in order to criticize Richardson's works effectively. Chapter 7, "Critical Reception to 1900," written by Brian Corman, establishes the differences between Richardson and Fielding and their influence on the novel, which is useful for the undergraduate scholar. In addition, Rivero details the various important scholarly publications on Richardson, his novels, and his life, which for the more advanced student functions as a proto-bibliography to orient themselves within the immense amount of eighteenth-century scholarship in chapter 8, "Critical Reception since 1900."

Those interested in book history, the rise of the novel, and print culture will especially value parts 1 through 4. Although the first section is titled "Life and Works," it does not present a biography of Richardson. The section begins with a portrait of Richardson as an author and businessman. Since there are many biographical works on Richardson, this critical edition omits his personal biography and chooses to focus on a particular aspect of his life. Although a chronology is provided for those interested, the editorial decision to omit a biographical chapter puts more of an emphasis on the novels, their creation, and the social, intellectual, and material culture than on the personal life of the author.

Nevertheless, the reader still learns about Richardson's personality in "Reputation," "Editions," and "Authorship." The authors of these chapters present a detailed and complex Richardson, riddled with anxiety and virtuous ambitions. Simon Dickie points out Richardson's uses of humour through a close examination of his novels, especially Lovelace's character in Clarissa, which presents an "unexpectedly detailed commentary on eighteenth-century humour and its power to help bold, clever, handsome men get away with so much" (219). Dickie's chapter, "Humour," is especially relevant to modern students with its exploration of Clarissa's story, her rape, and her refusal to prosecute Lovelace.

April London's chapter, "The Novel," positions Richardson's novels, especially Pamela and Clarissa, within the rise of the novel. She examines his writing techniques, motifs, and rhetorical devices that appear in the works of other authors, such as Jane Austen. In regard to a variety of literary works from Frances Burney's Evelina to Eliza Fenwick's Secresy, London argues that "the indebtedness to Richardson embodied in such works can be seen across the period," which allowed authors like Sarah Fielding, Charlotte Lennox, and Austen to reimagine and challenge Richardson's heroine (149). London, while clearly stating that later authors are indebted to Richardson, also suggests these authors were not necessarily imitating but rather responding to his works.

There is a noticeable technical shift from part 4, "The Book and Its Readers," to part 5, "Literary Genres and the Arts," that may be jarring for the less experienced reader. The chapters become much more specific and specialized, which is beneficial to understanding the complexities of Richardson's novels, but could prove challenging for the undergraduate student. For example, the...