New readership and Pamela : the rise of the novel

Abstract

This lesson explores the emergence of a new readership primarily of middle-class women in urban centres of London. As female domestic manufacture has been displaced by factory manufacture, middle-class women in London have acquired leisure time for reading. However, lacking the education in classical literacy, a new form of literary entertainment was required  the 18th-century novel. The lesson will look into its characteristics (themes, settings, characters, narrative techniques) and its dissemination (serialised publication, circular libraries). The lesson will also take a look at Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) as an example of the radical change in the theme of the novel. Topics to be discussed: • New readership • Circulating libraries • Serialised publication • The Novel and its characteristics • Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740)  Inspiration  Reception  Criticism