Why Read a 1740 Novel?

Perhaps the first modern English novel¹, Samuel Richardson's Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded was published over 250 years ago (1740), but its theme continues to resonate today.

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There are several reasons I've recommended this title. Most importantly, it's a good read in a surprisingly contemporary format. Think of it as a kind of 18th century Bridget Jones's Diary with a suitably less worldly heroine writing home to her family rather than confiding in a journal.

If Bridget isn't quite your style, consider Pamela's place in literary history. Controversial when first released, it still is. The modern reader may dismiss this tome as one more English Lit costume drama,  Pamela as Pollyanna, but a closer look shows she's smarter than she seems; more than a match for a man we all know should have been certain to get his way.

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Still unconvinced? Henry Fielding, author of the classic, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) aka Tom Jones, hated Pamela with a passion. So much so, that he took up his pen and produce the self-explanatory An Apology for Mrs Shamela Andrews aka  Shamela (1741) and the next year, The History and Adventures of Mr Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr Abraham Adams aka Joseph Andrews (our heroine's wimpy sibling who also winds up with his virtue under siege) in addition to the self-explanatory  Shamela. Yet without Pamela, Fielding could have been another nameless magistrate. Say goodbye to Britain's Channel Four's wonderful award-winning City of Vice, another chance to watch Ian McDiarmid, Star Wars' Senator Palpatine, later Emperor Palpatine², in action. Against the Dark side, no less.

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♥ ♥ ♥  A great book, but as a read, I'd say Tom Jones has aged better. Get them both and decide for yourself.

Bonus extra: I once knew a person who claimed to have used Tom Jones to learn English.

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Notes
¹ As per UniversalTeacher.org.uk's Brief History of English Literature: Prose Fiction and the Novel (search for "Pamela")
² According to Starwars.com, the only time McDiarmid didn't portray Palpatine was in The Empire Strikes Back (1980): "He was played by an old woman [Elaine Baker] wearing prosthetic makeup, with chimpanzee eyes superimposed in post-production into darkened eye sockets."

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Books mentioned

• Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded
• Tom Jones (originally published as  The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling)
• Joseph Andrews and Shamela (combined edition, originally published separately as An Apology for Mrs Shamela Andrews and The History and Adventures of Mr Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr Abraham Adams)