À la mort de sa maîtresse, Paméla, jeune domestique d'une grande beauté, doit subir et repousser les assauts de son nouveau maître, M.B..., pris d'une violente passion pour elle. Farouchement décidée à conserver sa vertu, la jeune fille va user de tous les subterfuges pour échapper aux séductions, menaces et manigances de M.B..., et le conduire à une extrémité inattendue.
Paméla fut l'un des succès les plus éclatants de la scène littéraire européenne du XVIIIe sc. Il a consacré Richardson, qui devint plus tard l'auteur préféré de Jane Austen, comme l'un des écrivains majeurs de l'histoire de la littérature anglaise. Roman sous forme de lettres et de journal, dont nous publions ici les deux premiers livres - les plus célèbres -, 
Paméla est non seulement une oeuvre d'une finesse psychologique novatrice, mais aussi une étude incisive du pouvoir et de ses abus.

Pamela

Dès sa parution, Clarisse Harlove fut une révélation. Avec ce roman, l'un des plus grands de la littérature anglaise, Richardson avait créé un mythe. Clarisse, poussée par sa famille à accepter un riche mais odieux prétendant, s'enfuit avec le libertin Lovelace, qui a conçu pour elle une ardeur d'autant plus forte que l'objet de ses désirs lui résiste. Finalement violée sous l'empire de la drogue, Clarisse se laisse mourir. A partir de ce simple argument, Richardson parvient, avec un art magistral, à créer tout un monde qui palpite dans un prodigieux entrecroisement de vices et de vertus. Tout autant que l'intrigue, importe l'analyse des caractères et des sentiments, le jeu des passions et leur langage. La forme épistolaire permet à l'auteur de saisir sur le vif les plus subtils mouvements de l'âme, les moindres ambiguïtés de Clarisse comme de Lovelace, « sans doute le plus charmant méchant homme des lettres anglaises ». Cette profondeur psychologique fait de Richardson l'un des fondateurs du roman moderne, de Henry James à Joyce. En un temps où le français régnait sans partage, l'abbé Prévost, l'auteur de Manon Lescaut, révéla par sa traduction l'ouvre de Richardson. Elle devint aussitôt un livre-culte dans l'Europe entière.

Histoire de Clarisse Harlove Tome 2

Samuel Richardson, the first, in order of time, of the great English novelists, was born in 1689 and died at London in 1761. He was a printer by trade, and rose to be master of the Stationers' Company. That he also became a novelist was due to his skill as a letter-writer, which brought him, in his fiftieth year, a commission to write a volume of model "familiar letters" as an aid to persons too illiterate to compose their own. The notion of connecting these letters by a story which had interested him suggested the plot of "Pamela" and determined its epistolary form-a form which was retained in his later works.

This novel (published 1740) created an epoch in the history of English fiction, and, with its successors, exerted a wide influence upon Continental literature. It is appropriately included in a series which is designed to form a group of studies of English life by the masters of English fiction. For it marked the transition from the novel of adventure to the novel of character-from the narration of entertaining events to the study of men and of manners, of motives and of sentiments. In it the romantic interest of the story (which is of the slightest) is subordinated to the moral interest in the conduct of its characters in the various situations in which they are placed. Upon this aspect of the "drama of human life" Richardson cast a most observant, if not always a penetrating glance. His works are an almost microscopically detailed picture of English domestic life in the early part of the eighteenth century.

Pamela or Virtue Rewarded

Clarissa, or the history of a young lady

Parues en 1740, aussitôt traduites en français et diffusées dans toute l'Europe, ces lettres d'une femme de chambre en butte aux harcèlements de son maître ont inauguré une nouvelle ère dans l'histoire du roman européen. Ce monument n'a pas été réédité en français depuis près de deux siècles.

Pamela ou la vertu récompensée

Samuel Richardson''s Pamela is a captivating story of one young woman''s rebellion against the social order, edited by Peter Sabor with an introduction by Margaret A. Doody in Penguin Classics.br>br>Fifteen-year-old Pamela Andrews, alone in the world, is pursued by her dead mistress''s son. Although she is attracted to Mr B, she holds out against his demands and threats of abduction and rape, determined to protect her virginity and abide by her moral standards. Psychologically acute in its explorations of sex, freedom and power, Richardson''s first novel caused a sensation when it was published, with its depiction of a servant heroine who dares to assert herself. Richly comic and full of lively scenes and descriptions, Pamela contains a diverse cast of characters ranging from the vulgar and malevolent Mrs Jewkes to the aggressive but awkward country squire who serves this unusual love story as both its villain and hero.br>br>In her introduction, Margaret Ann Doody discusses the epistolary genre of novels and examines the role of women and class differences. This edition, based on the 1801 text and incorporating corrections made in 1810, makes Richardson''s final version of the two-volume generally available for the first time.br>br>Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) was born in Derbyshire, the son of a joiner. He received little formal education, but in 1706 was apprenticed to a London printer, going on to become a leading figure of the trade in the capital. Pamela originated as a volume of model letters for unskilled letter-writers, but as Richardson became more fascinated by the characters in his letters than the letters themselves, the germ of a novel began to emerge. Upon its publication in 1740 Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded became a national sensation.br>br>If you enjoyed Pamela, you might like Daniel Defoe''s Moll Flanders, also available in Penguin Classics.>

Pamela

Résumé

Plus de livres de Samuel Richardson

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