Considering the classroom commentary of KW and the copious prefatory material, it is clear that we are to understand Pamela as a pop-culture phenomenon. What about the novel made it so? Is it in some way a challenge to the rigid socio-economic structure of C18 England? Is it sensational becaus of the sexual content? What pop-culture phenomenon of C21 would you compare to Pamela and why?
On a different note, do you like to read introductions and editor's notes? Sometimes I feel like the experience of reading a novel should be between me and the author, but in this case I think Richardson was intentinally creating a public, sensational experience. How has extra-fabula material, or intertextuality, significantly affected something you've read before, wither within or outside of your academic reading?
I think that Pamela was a phenomenon in the 18th century because mothers wanted their daughters to learn a lesson from Pamela. Although now in the 21st century, we read this book and judge Pamela for being overly naive and a little pathetic, at that time she was someone to look up to. In the 18th century, Pamela was idolized for not giving up her virginity and her virtue until marriage and mothers thought this was important for young women to follow in her footsteps. Also in the 18th century, it was polite and the right thing to do for young women to obey their husbands. From a 21st century standpoint, I feel that a relationship should have total equality. But, back in those days in England, gender equality was not as important as it is today. I would compare Pamela to Toddlers & Tiaras because although some people think this is an appropriate way to raise your daughter, other people (like me) think it is complete insanity.
ReplyDeleteDespite Pamela's perceived nativity, she remains a character to be looked up too. The attraction of the novel is, in part, due to her steadfastness in doing what she believes is right. The novel challenges the C18 belief that a servant must obey their master, that someone of a lower class cannot stand up to one of a higher. Through staying true to her morals she is able to rise above her station while still respecting herself for staying chaste until marriage. The licentiousness nature of the novel just added to the attractiveness of it. Pamela was a novel that challenged the accepted status quo and that lead to its popularity.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think that the character of Pamela was one that many fantasized about in the 18C. She was a naive girl who came from a poor background and had the opportunity to marry into a rich household where she would gain family and personal security for the rest of her life. This to me seemed as a dream for many women during his time. Obeying the orders of their masters, and providing sexual needs to their husbands were all norms during this time period. However, I do think that reading this in the 21C the character of Pamela gets criticized often because our virtues and rights of women have changed so greatly over time that women have the same equals as men. Men and women in any household share the same rights, both in sexual desires and security ones being. Thus, I think reading this book now and analysing Pamela's character is hard to do when thinking in terms of the 18C.
ReplyDeleteLook at any Best-Selling novel, and on the very cover, you will probably find quotes from the New York Times and other such prestigious companies stating, “A Masterpiece,” “An Instant Classic,” and so forth. Flip to the back cover, and you will read even more quotes exclaiming reasons why you should read this author’s work. Like individuals today perusing the thousands of books at B & N, these catchy lines beckon us to shell out our hard earned $8 or $20 (for a hard-cover book). I will even go so far as to state that perhaps these quotes by others actually influences the way we perceive and read a book. If everyone is reading Harry Potter, than this book must certainly be better than any other fantasy novel on the shelves. I’m going to guess that these lengthy prefatory material did just that. They invited individuals to read Pamela with this much obliging view. Before individuals sat down to read it, they already had a certain idea of what to expect from the novel. Most importantly, if within two years, from 1740-1742, Pamela already had its sixth edition published, it may be safe to see that many people were reading this novel. I am not sure if it was sensational purely because of the sexual content. I do believe that the sexual content added a lot of appeal, but Pamela was meant “for the Benefit of Mankind”(9). Almost all the letters alluded to the Simplicity of the writing and the “natural incidents,” “practical examples,” and“truth and nature” found in Richardson’s piece. I’m not even sure if many people saw Pamela as a novel as indicated by the last letter to the editor: “In short, Sir, a Piece of this Kind is much wanted in the World, which is but too much, as well as too early debauched by PERNICIOUS NOVELS..." (7) Perhaps the “moral instruction” found within this narrative placed it, in some people’s eyes, in a league of its own. What I wonder, however, is whether or not these letters were real? Do you guys think these prefatory material were legitimate, or do you think they were just planted there for people to read the sexual content as instructional and for people to want to buy this book?
ReplyDeleteThe eighteenth century is many times over shadowed by the novel of the nineteenth century. In The nineteenth century, many novels gained attention for being "diary-like" and emphasized private spaces. This was thought to be the era of romance novels, but we see with "Pamela" that romance novels were actually alive well before the nineteenth century. What makes this novel a pop-culture phenomenon may be the fact that it was the first of its kind. We see in this novel many of the aspects that later become popular in works by authors like Jane Austen. The sense that Pamela is sharing many of her private thoughts with the audience makes it feel as though the reader is in her private space. This novel also probably gained popularity for the fact that it has all the aspects that go into a romantic drama. There is anger, resentment, passion, and love; all the things we look for in an entertaining love story. Like I mentioned in class, this story is a lot like the classic story of "Beauty and the Beast", where the unlikely pair fall in love. Any work with sexual content tends to be appealing to an audience, but especially in the eighteenth century, where there were still many boundaries on literary content, sexual content in a novel was probably very new and exciting to readers.
ReplyDeleteI think many of you are right in thinking that a big part of the appeal of this novel is wish-fulfillment. It also appeals to a sense of unjust persecution, I think. When you read about Pamela's experiences, it is easy to parallel it to your own percieved unjust treatment in the class structure. These approaches conflict, however, when the fantasy aspect of Pamela's saga comes at the hands of her persecutor. Even if you're happy for Pamela's outcome it's a little unbelievable how easily she forgot her torment. I know I didn't. Though the flip side of persecution is the romantic, exciting aspect of a kidnapping (which the reader can experience withouth the associated fear).
ReplyDeleteThe didactic element of the story undoubtedly made it popular with parents who saw good lessons in it. And it seems to fill an emerging need for entertaining fiction that is not as taxing as verse.
Really from a marketing perspective, Richardson hit all the bases just right with this novel and successfully attracted a lot of attention.
TWILIGHT. Both Pamela and Twilight are detrimental to the emotional and personal development of young girls. Ok...I exaggerate. I would compare Pamela to Twilight because they both set a negative precedent for the way women ought to be treated. This was normal treatment for the audience of Pamela, but now, in the 21st century, I would expect women to wisen up a little bit. In Twilight, there are two men fighting over the love of one girl for no spectacular reason, and even worse, they treat her like she is a child. Her creepy vampire boyfriend is always sneaking into her bedroom watching over her and she is never allowed to be alone. This is the message we're setting for young girls today: that it is NORMAL for your boyfriend to be that creepy and clingy and that it's CUTE AND ENDEARING. It's not. It's weird.
ReplyDeleteI think that Pamela was so popular because it does get a little smutty. C'mon...you really think all those 18th century people were all innocent? Nah...all those prudish rules made them freaks, I bet.
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