Pamela by Samuel Richardson

I decided to read this book for two reasons.  One, I decided to read some of the novels highlighted in the audio course I've been listening to entitled The English Novel by Professor Timothy Spurgin.  That course identifies Pamela as the first English novel, published in 1740.  Two, I also decided to try and sync my reading of fiction with my reading of non-fiction, which is currently fixed squarely on early 18th century Europe.  Pamela fit that bill quite nicely.

I didn't know what to expect, as early fiction can be difficult to the modern reader, and the reviews I found online were decidedly negative.  Most of the reviews identified the book as boring, too long and sexist.

My guess is that many of those readers didn't make it past the first several chapters of the book, which can easily be viewed as boring, long and sexist if you never make it to the second half of the book.  The first half is consumed with Mr. B___s fixation on, attacks against and captivity of the young helpless Pamela.  It's not very pleasant.

The second half of the book has been fantastic (I'm perhaps 90% complete), and I often have had a difficult time putting it down.

Once Mr. B____ begins to understand Pamela's virtue, and Pamela learns that Mr. B ____ truly does love her, the game changes completely.  The switch happens almost instantly - perhaps a little too quickly for my liking - but the book becomes decidedly enjoyable from there on.

Although not exactly Austen-esque (Richardson doesn't command the language like Austen; the similarities between styles are what you would expect from an English novelist pre-dating her by a century), the story becomes much more enjoyable.  Mr. B____ ceases to be the antagonist; instead we begin to view English society of the time as the bad-guy, the society that will reject their union.

The full title of the book is Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, a title which reflects the larger story.  Pamela refuses Mr. B___'s advances when she believes he only wants her for sex, which would bring her virtue to a disdainful end.  Once she understands he actually loves her, and will in fact marry her, she sees him in a completely new light.  She, too, wants to marry him, although the knowledge of this is (almost) completely hidden from the reader during the first half of the book.

Mr. B.____ also learns the value of virtue over the course of the story.  Not only does he learn to respect Pamela's virtue, he also understand in hindsight that his own lack of virtue is what doomed their relationship from taking form.  Sugar works better than vinegar, as they say.  Once he courts Pamela with love and kindness (and once he commits to marriage), she does a complete 180.

The book symbolizes the Enlightenment in a lot of ways.  Society was moving forward.  Modern ideas - such as a wealthy lord marrying a member of his household - could actually happen, albeit with difficulty.

Great book.  Next up on the fiction front: Tom Jones by Henry Fielding.