THE BAD BOY PAR EXCELLENCE

Robert Lovelace, the protagonist in Clarissa, is the bad boy par excellence -- one of the first bad boys in literature! (I guess the original bad boy is Paris from the Iliad. I always loved Paris myself, and sided with the Trojans in the war. Cyprus, my country, had wisely remained neutral, and actually offered sanctuary to returning soldiers, both Trojans and Greek).

Back to Clarissa. It is the longest book written in the English language (see how huge it is in the picture below. Not only this -- the actual fonts are very small on the page). Samuel Richardson, the author, was a mild and quiet man, who started writing fiction at 60. He became immensely famous and popular. As for the beautiful but evil Robert Lovelace, women readers fell madly in love with him. The novel was published as a series in a magazine, so readers flooded Richardson with letters, asking him to make Lovelace good in the end. Richardson absolutely refused. 😢

I did not read the book, but I listened to an excellent Radio 4 theatre production. I enjoyed each and every episode. My favorite character was not the moral and saintly Clarissa, but the immoral and evil Lovelace.

Clarissa was published in 1748, so it was an old book by the high Victorian era (1850s-60s). I read a lot of articles about Clarissa in the 19th century magazines. Victorian critics admired both angelic Clarissa and angelic/ demonic Lovelace, and had a lot of praise for the book.

More on literary bad boys in later posts!!! 💄💋💖💝❤️
#Victorians #Clarissa #SamuelRichardson #thelipstickpapers #TheIliad#Paris #beauty #Victorians #Cyprus