Talk:Clarissa

Untitled
This "article" (which originally came verbatim from the Samuel Richardson article) reads like a book report. I've done a (very) little copyediting, but was unable to improve it much. Hence I append the following notice. - dcljr (talk) 06:33, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

I have removed the "cleanup-tone" notice from here and will add it instead to the actual article. Dr Gangrene 3 July 2005 13:56 (UTC)

Synopsis
I edited the synopsis the other week (sorry for not commenting at the time) as it contained the glaring inaccuracy of claiming that Clarissa is successfully forced into a marriage by her family, when in fact she runs away just before they can do so. It's generally a fairly poor synopsis, I suspect the author had not read the novel. For instance, it implies that Lovelace is forced into raping Clarissa, and also that the rape directly causes her death. Clarissa dies of a lingering illness which is not named, although judging from her symptoms and behaviour the most likely modern diagnosis would be anorexia (this theory is controversial). Most characters and events are left out. I could possibly do a better job given a little time, I'm currently on my third reading of the text and will be running an online reading group for it in January.

Elettaria 18:38, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Anorexia? No way. She starves herself to death in order to restore her "virtue" lost during the unconscious whore-house raping. To say she has anorexia implies that she had body image issues. I don't think that applies here.

geoffr111 22:52, 18 January 2007 (EST)

The term anorexia doesn't necessarily imply "body image issues"; it can be a reaction to sexual abuse and/or a psychological need to feel in control. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.207.61.217 (talk • contribs)

Fixed the plot synopsis; someone had apparently deleted a large, random chunk out of the middle such that it no longer made grammatical sense. I restored it as it was two edits ago with the exception that I changed that Lovelace's desire for Clarissa "FORCES" him to rape her to the more appropriate "DRIVES." Also, I changed that she "REMAINS" dangerously ill to "BECOMES" since, as Elettaria has said, the former seems to suggest, erroneously, that the rape causes it.

geoffr111 11:32, 18 October 2007 (EST)

Attempted to clarify the initial situation in Clarissa, why the Harlowes should care so much whom Clarissa marries, but the synopsis is still quite crude; it doesn't at all give Lovelace's perspective on the matter. Dhrichter (talk) 15:19, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

I don't think Clarissa either has anorexia or starves herself to death, and the reasons given here are not adequate to support those hypotheses. I'm not sure that we can make judgments about a diagnosis such as anorexia that may not have had the same currency at the time Richardson wrote as it has now. Clarissa also insists that she refuses to starve herself to death, and in fact, is determined to live, except that she believes herself to have sustained too great a shock by everything that has happened to her for her will to be of much use in keeping her alive. If she dies of malnutrition, which is unclear, it is because she cannot take solid food, which could be for a number of reasons not relating to her will or anorexia. We could say that she dies of grief, but it is all much more complicated than the loss of her virginity. I think Richardson tries to show that what she dies of is the enormous unjust attack on the integrity of her pure and unique selfhood that has been sustained beginning with her family's demands for her marriage and every event following through to Lovelace's rape of her. This is a very complicated book and it is not very useful to try and reduce it to easy answers. Marcsamuelsmith (talk) 01:53, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

The opening introduction to this article needs revision. The subject of this book is not a young lady whose quest for virtue is thwarted by her family, as this implies that she is not virtuous at the start of the book, and gives too much attention to the role of her family in terms of the relative quantity of content of the novel. The primary subject of the novel is the trials and death of a virtuous young lady who is psychologically and sexually attacked and destroyed by an unscrupulous and abusive young man. I realise this is not appropriate language, will think if i can figure it out. Marcsamuelsmith (talk) 02:29, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Critical reading
Is there any particular reason this article has no mention to Terry Eagleton and his Rape of Clarissa? --Aphaia 11:51, 13 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I would presume that it's because no one has been able to write something and source it with reliable sources? McKay 15:41, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Japanese translation
http://web.archive.org/web/20091003131051/http://yorific.cll.hokudai.ac.jp/ WhisperToMe (talk) 06:50, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * This is a Japanese translation

Assessment comment
Substituted at 11:50, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Sources for "Clarissa"
1.Flynn, Carol Houlihan. Samuel Richardson: A Man Of Letters : A Man Of Letters. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 18 July 2016.

2. Fulton, Gordon D. Styles Of Meaning And Meanings Of Style In Richardson's Clarissa. Montreal: MQUP, 1999. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 18 July 2016.

3.Stuber, Florian. "Clarissa: A Religious Novel?." Studies In The Literary Imagination 28.1 (1995): 105. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 18 July 2016. Sunflower 123 (talk) 23:01, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

Outline for "Clarissa"
I. To add a section titled “Author”

a. Some basic background on the author

b.Examples of how the author’s own ideals and understanding of life and morality play out in the novel.

II. Add some information to the introduction

a. Clarissa as a religious novel  Sunflower 123 (talk) 23:03, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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Synopsis in confusion?
"Lovelace departs for Europe and his correspondence with his friend Belford continues." How can Belford be Lovelace's friend after threating to cut Lovelace's throat? 62.218.25.131 (talk) 09:11, 25 May 2018 (UTC)