Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Of those who have read Richardson's Clarissa, few would admit that it is one of their favorite novels, and many would agree that it is tediously long, priggish, and preachy. However Terry Eagleton claims that Richardson's book can now become a great novel for us. Combining three approaches—Marxist criticism, poststructuralist theories of textuality, and psychoanalysis—Eagleton sees Richardson as an aggressive spokesman for the middle class and as a novelist obsessed with the act of writing and fascinated by sexual politics. Often the subversive effects of the novel far exceed its author's intentions. Clarissa, Eagleton suggests, is 'arguably the major feminist text of the language.' Such an interpretation will hardly appeal to all 18th-century specialists. Nevertheless, Eagleton's study is always lively, often perceptive, and, despite its pluralist methodology, extremely well written. Eagleton is one of the most exciting British critics writing today, and his startling approach should arouse enough interest to make both specialists and nonspecialists of the period reevaluate this great unread novel." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)