Samuel Richardson's Revisions to Pamela (1740, 1801)

The edition of Pamela a person reads will affect his or her perception of Pamela's ascent into aristocratic society. Richardson's revisions to the fourteenth edition of Pamela, published posthumously in 1801, change Pamela's character from the 1740 first edition in such a way as to make her social climb more believable to readers outside the novel and to "readers" inside the novel. Pamela alters her language, her actions, and her role in the household by the end of the first edition; in the fourteenth edition, however, she changes in little more than her title. Pamela might begin as a novel that threatens the fabric of class hierarchies, but it ends-both within the plot and externally throughout its many editions-as a novel that stabilizes and strengthens social norms.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2004

Author dc:creator

• Bender, Ashley Brookner

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pettit, Alexander
• Preston, Thomas R.
• Armintor, Deborah Needleman

• Richardson, Samuel, 1689-1761. Pamela.
• class hierarchies
• Samuel Richardson
• Pamela
• revisions
• social ascent
• British novel

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• Bender, Ashley Brookner
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 56607043
untcat: b2662172
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4638/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc4638

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc4638