Clarissa Group Read: September Links

Here is the Mr. Linky for the September Clarissa group read posts. If you've written a post for Letters 457-522 or have comments on your reading of Clarissa, please leave a link to your post below.

Reading Clarissa: April in July

Yes. I am behind in my reading of Clarissa. Way behind. You can see reading markers in my physical copy of the book above. The orange tabs are the readings for each month. The bookmark sticking out is my place marker. I'm about midway through April. BTW, I often read this book on my Kindle since the sheer weight of the thing can be tiring.

The readings for March through August are quite large chunks. I managed to get through the March readings during March, but was so put off by the repetition involved in Richardson's telling of this tale that I didn't even pick up the book in April. Then when April came and went I was so far behind and so busy in other areas of my life that I avoided this weighty tome. I know ... blah, blah, blah, excuses.

Speaking of repetition, this is often what my mind does with the story: "I won't!" "You will!" "No, I won't!" "Yes, you will!" "Absolutely not!" "Yes! Even if we have to carry you!" "What have I ever done to deserve this?!" "You are an ungrateful and undutiful wretch!" Repeat. Repeatedly.

I do like the theme of Clarissa, and I don't mind reading epistolary novels. The 18th century language is only a minor distraction. I do not have a lot of, nor recent, experience with 18th century novels; my experience entails an 18th century literature class a couple of decades ago. Hence, I can not tell if my problems are with Clarissa and Richardson's writing or with 18th century literature in general.

Ah well, enough complaining. I will continue reading since I really do want to know how this story ends and I do wish to eventually have something cogent to say about this hunk of literature. To all my fellow Clarissa readers: Keep Calm and Read on!

Clarissa Group Read: July Links

Here is the Mr. Linky for the July Clarissa Group Read posts. If you've written a post for Letters 305-381 or have comments on your reading of Clarissa, please leave a link to your post below.

Clarissa Group Read: May Links

Here is the Mr. Linky for the May Clarissa Group Read posts. If you've written a post for Letters 161-218 or have comments on your May reading of Clarissa, please leave a link to your post below.

Clarissa Group Read: March Links

Here is the Mr. Linky for the March Clarissa Group Read posts. If you've written a post for Letters 11-72 or have comments on your March reading of Clarissa, please leave a link to your post below.

Clarissa: Letters 7-10

Please leave links to your February Clarissa posts on JoAnn's blog.

The plot thickens

Clarissa is further harangued by her family to marry. A stay with her good friend Anna has been shortened as Clarissa is called home. I'm not sure exactly why the family is so intent on Clarissa being married, but it appears that this is driven by her two older (and single!) siblings. The elder family members (father, mother, aunts, uncles) allow this harangue and even play into it. I assume, at this point, that this push to marry Clarissa is a combination of "avarice and envy," as Anna so succinctly points out in her letter to Clarissa. Clarissa has been isolated from her friends, but she has found a way to continue both writing and receiving letters on the sly with her good friend Anna.

The characters develop

Clarissa definitely has backbone and a sense of independence, though her kind heart and generosity put her at a disadvantage in dealings with those of selfish and wrong intent. Anna puts it well:

"Depend upon it, whether you know it or not, you are a little in for't. Your native generosity and greatness of mind endanger you."

I fear that the family perception that Clarissa is meek (she is not meek but merely non-confrontational) will drive her to unnecessary and desperate action.

Anna is spunky and I like her. She recognizes the difference between herself and Clarissa:

"... I am fitter for this world than you, you for the next than me."

She is a good friend to Clarissa and is brutally honest in her desire to be helpful.

The scene

I had such a vivid picture in my mind of the scene with the entire Harlowe family against Clarissa. The smug, triumphant looks of some and the furtive, cowardly glances of others. Clarissa is left pleading on her knees at the feet of her father as he turns his back and walks away. Cruel scene.

Looking forward

I am curious to hear what the menfolk have to say for themselves. At this point I'm not very happy with any of them. Clarissa's brother is full of himself, her father is being driven by her brother's agenda, her uncles are toeing the line, and none of the so called suitors are worthy of Clarissa.

Clarissa: Letters 1-6

The January letters have been full of introductions to the main characters and we begin to see their traits revealed. Clarissa has spoken for herself as the main letter writer so far. Her virtuous character is well evident. We've met the other characters primarily through Clarissa's viewpoint. I look forward to meeting Lovelace through his own voice. Is he the cad that he is made out to be or can he explain himself?

The conflict is set up in these first few letters, and I already fear for Clarissa. She is clearly a young lady with an independent streak, but she does not appear to be rash. This makes the Harlowe family's suspicions of her perplexing. It is evident that she is not inclined toward Lovelace. Her family should be familiar with her honest and virtuous character, yet they suspect her of untoward behavior. Not only that, but we have reason to believe that the gossip mills have already begun, as Miss Howe indicates through her letters.

The pressure put upon Clarissa to be a paragon of virtue is immense, as pointed out by Miss Howe (in what I perceive to be a snarky tone directed at those "other eyes", but perhaps I'm merely projecting?):

"You see what you draw upon yourself by excelling all your sex. Every individual of it who knows you, or has heard of you, seems to think you answerable to her for your conduct in points so very delicate and concerning. Every eye, in short, is upon you with the expectation of an example."

This scrutiny is, of course, unasked for and again Miss Howe points out that Clarissa is "desirous ... of sliding through life to the end of it unnoted; and ... not wishing to be observed even for [her] silent benevolence; sufficiently happy in the noble consciousness which rewards it: Rather useful than glaring, [is her] motto; though now pushed into blaze ... to [her] regret; and yet blamed at home for the faults of others. How must such a virtue suffer on every hand!"

Is that foreshadowing or what!

Clarissa Group Read: January Links

Here is the Mr. Linky for January's Clarissa Group Read posts. If you've written a post for Letters 1-6 or have comments on your January reading of Clarissa, please leave a link to your post below.

Hope you are all enjoying the book!

Update: Clarissa Group Read Participants List

I've created a list of all those participating in the year long Clarissa Group Read with me and JoAnn. I hesitated to do this because JoAnn and I want to keep this read as relaxed as possible! Then I thought about all the people I meet through book blogs and how I enjoy visiting new-to-me book bloggers, and so decided to make it easy on myself to hop around and visit you all during the year. Hence THE LIST.

I've simply added a list of participants, that I am aware of, to the Clarissa Group Read Page on my blog. If I missed you and you want to be on this list, please let me know and I'll add you.

The Clarissa Group Read Is Here!!!

I am so excited to begin the group read of Clarissa with all of you who will be reading this hefty tome with me and JoAnn throughout 2012! Some of you are on the other side of the dateline and might have already started reading. I will confess that I "peeked" ahead of time and have already read a few of the letters. I think we are in for a treat!

I have discovered that it is handy to have a dictionary nearby while you read. There are some words completely foreign to me, some words that I thought I knew but really didn't(!), and other words that just needed those nuanced meanings pointed out for a richer reading of the text. For instance, I know that the word "approbation" means "approval," but in the context of Clarissa it often means a formal or official approval and there can be serious consequences without that formal endorsement.

Where to leave links to your Clarissa posts:

JoAnn and I will take turns hosting a place for you to link to your Clarissa posts. Please do not feel obligated to write posts, but I know everyone would love it if you do. I'll be hosting at the end of January. You can find the reading "schedule" and where to link each month on either of the Clarissa pages (here and here).

The conversation about #Clarissa never ends on Twitter:

You can find me on Twitter as @MsTerriB and you can find JoAnn as @lakesidemusing. Use the hashtag #Clarissa to more easily pick up any conversation threads.

Again, don't feel obligated to write if you don't want to. Write and discuss as much or as little as you want. The point really is to read this novel, and any conversation is icing on the cake.

Happy reading!

A Clarissa Read-a-long

One of my 2012 reading goals is to read Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. Clarissa is an 18th century epistolary novel that is composed of 537 letters and is about 1500 pages long. I've wanted to read it for a very long time, but just couldn't seem to commit until I read a lovely tribute to this book written by o on her blog Delaisse.

Here is a Plot synopsis (from Amazon.com):
Pressured by her unscrupulous family to marry a wealthy man she detests, the young Clarissa Harlowe is tricked into fleeing with the witty and debonair Robert Lovelace and places herself under his protection. Lovelace, however, proves himself to be an untrustworthy rake whose vague promises of marriage are accompanied by unwelcome and increasingly brutal sexual advances. And yet, Clarissa finds his charm alluring, her scrupulous sense of virtue tinged with unconfessed desire. Told through a complex series of interweaving letters, "Clarissa" is a richly ambiguous study of a fatally attracted couple and a work of astonishing power and immediacy. A huge success when it first appeared in 1747, and translated into French and German, it remains one of the greatest of all European novels.

I will be reading Clarissa with JoAnn at Lakeside Musing (see her post). The plan is to read the letters close to the corresponding dates of January 10th through December 18th. As you can see, this is a year long reading project. I've downloaded the Penguin Classics edition to my ereader. JoAnn will be reading the same edition in print.

I know there are a few other people out there who have already expressed an interest in reading along with me and JoAnn. There is also a separate read-a-long with Allie of A Literary Odyssey and Jillian from A Room of One's Own. I believe they are reading during April.

JoAnn and I will probably be posting reading updates once a month and will be chatting on Twitter. I will add a Mr. Linky in my monthly Clarissa posts. Please feel free to leave a link to your own Clarissa posts during the read-a-long; even if you are reading it for another read-a-long or reading it solo.

Would you like to join us? Just leave a comment on this post or with JoAnn.