Samuel Richardson, Sir Charles Grandison

Jennie Batchelor (University of Kent at Canterbury)

Ed. by Janet Todd, University of Cambridge
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1753 - 1754

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Epistolary
Novel
Sentimental

Resources

Richardson's History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753-1754), marks a significant departure from his earlier works. Though the novel, like its predecessors, is written in the epistolary mode and shares many thematic interests in common with the much-slighted but popular Pamela (1740) and the author's tragic masterpiece Clarissa (1747-1748), Grandison enacts a crucial displacement of subject and perspective. In response to entreaties from many of his attentive correspondents, and possibly as a reaction to the enthusiastic reception of Fielding's Tom Jones (1749), the increasingly ailing Richardson was driven to write a final novel centred around a “good man” rather than a good woman.

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2130 words

Citation: Batchelor, Jennie. "Sir Charles Grandison". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2057, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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