Clarissa: pt. 1

Clarissa is a long book.

I have the Penguin Classics edition, and it clocks in at just under 1500 small print, large size pages, not including any of the periphery material. I knew it was one of the longest novels in the English language, but I thought, eh, I've read my fair share of epic fantasy, this can't be so bad.

And then my brick came in the mail.

For the sake of comparison.

I'm reading it for a grad class that starts next January (insert "good thing I'm starting it now!" joke), but also because it is a standard of 18th century literature.

However, I've actually enjoyed reading it thus far, even though I feel like I'm making hardly any progress.

My thoughts overall?

Argh! The plot is so frustrating, but in a way that enhances the work. I'm right in the middle of L21, and Clarissa is struggling with her family, particularly her mother at this point, because she refuses to marry Mr. Solmes. The narrative is told through series of letters, and the system has thus worked very well to express Clarissa's emotional hardship. I can't imagine such a text being done in a different medium; what I would find contrived and self-indulgent in a more traditional narrative comes across as organic and sincere.

Anna Howe, Clarissa's closest friend, has written a couple letters and has been the receiver of most of Clarissa's, but I am intrigued to see how other characters, particularly Lovelace, are portrayed through their writing.

I keep translating Clarissa's experience to a modern context and stereotyped (but obviously not always occurring) teen experience: "Agh! So frustrating! Odds are stacked against her, and she has awful parents and family, and she should just tell everyone to #(*$ off and go live on her dairy farm!" I have this thought multiple times on a single page. Of course, I often have to reread certain sentences in order to make sure I actually understand what is being said, so that textual frustration kicks in too.

Compared to the other (very limited) 18th century texts that I have read, though, Clarissa is in many ways far more accessible, a factor mostly due to the highly personal and sincere tone which, in turn, is influenced by the letter format. 

I started Clarissa on June 1. It is now the 11th and I'm on page 115. If I have any hope of reading anything else this summer, I'm going to have to amp up my reading speed and time.