About this book
Clarissa: Preface, Hints of Prefaces, and Postscript by Samuel Richardson offers a rare, illuminating glimpse into the authorial mind behind one of the 18th century’s greatest novels. These prefatory materials and the expanded postscript trace Richardson’s revisions, responses to critics, and shifting editorial choices for Clarissa — the seminal epistolary fiction that reshaped English literature.
Carefully contextualized within the publishing history that began with the first volumes (1747–48) and the subsequent editions through 1751 and beyond, the text documents Richardson’s rewritten Preface and enlarged Postscript, his removal of William Warburton’s prefatory note, and the marginal markings that distinguish later restorations. Readers encounter debates over narrative authority, reader reception, and the mechanics of epistolary storytelling, all without spoiling the novel’s plot. This is as much a study of literary practice and 18th-century publishing as it is a complement to the fiction itself.
Ideal for students, scholars, and lovers of classic literature and epistolary fiction, this audiobook lends essential historical and critical perspective — enriching any future reading of Clarissa and deepening appreciation for Richardson’s craft.
