Издания и произведения

Samuel Richardson's Pamela is a captivating story of one young woman's rebellion against the social order, edited by Peter Sabor with an introduction by Margaret A. Doody in Penguin Classics.
Fifteen-year-old Pamela Andrews, alone in the world, is pursued by her dead mistress's son. Although she is attracted to Mr B, she holds out against his demands and threats of abduction and rape, determined to protect her virginity and abide by her moral standards. Psychologically acute in its explorations of sex, freedom and power, Richardson's first novel caused a sensation when it was published, with its depiction of a servant heroine who dares to assert herself. Richly comic and full of lively scenes and descriptions, Pamela contains a diverse cast of characters ranging from the vulgar and malevolent Mrs Jewkes to the aggressive but awkward country squire who serves this unusual love story as both its villain and hero.
In her introduction, Margaret Ann Doody discusses the epistolary genre of novels and examines the role of women and class differences. This edition, based on the 1801 text and incorporating corrections made in 1810, makes Richardson's final version of the two-volume generally available for the first time.
Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) was born in Derbyshire, the son of a joiner. He received little formal education, but in 1706 was apprenticed to a London printer, going on to become a leading figure of the trade in the capital. Pamela originated as a volume of model letters for unskilled letter-writers, but as Richardson became more fascinated by the characters in his letters than the letters themselves, the germ of a novel began to emerge. Upon its publication in 1740 Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded became a national sensation.

This is the "Penguin English Library Edition" of "Pamela" by Samuel Richards. "O the deceitfulness of the heart of man! This John, whom I took to be the honestest of men ...this very fellow was all the while a vile hypocrite, and a perfidious wretch, and helping to carry on my ruin". Fifteen-year-old Pamela Andrews, alone in the world, is pursued by her dead mistress' son. Although she is attracted to Mr B, she holds out against his demands, determined to protect her virginity and abide by her moral standards. Psychlologically acute in its explorations of sex, freedom and power, Richardson's first novel caused a sensation when it was…

'Pamela under the Notion of being a Virtuous Modest Girl will be introduced into all Familes,and when she gets there, what Scenes does she represent? Why a fine young Gentleman endeavouring to debauch a beautiful young Girl of Sixteen.' (Pamela Censured, 1741)

One of the most spectacular successes of the burgeoning literary marketplace of eighteeent-century London, Pamela also marked a defining moment in the emergence of the modern novel. In the words of one contemporary, it divided the world 'into two different Parties, Pamelists and Antipamelists', even eclipsing the sensational factional politics of the day. Preached up for its morality, and denounced as pornography in disguise, it vividly describes a young servant's long resistance to the attempts of her predatory master to seduce her. Written in the voice of its low-born heroine, but by a printer who fifteen years earlier had narrowly escaped imprisonment for the seditious output of his press, Pamela is not only a work of pioneering psychological complexity, but also a compelling and provocative study of power and its abuse.

Based on the original text of 1740, from which Richardson later retreated in a series of defensive revisions, this edition makes available the version of Pamela that aroused such widespread controversy on its first appearance.

"Памела, или Вознагражденная добродетель" — одно из наиболее значительных произведений Англии XVIII века, написанное в форме эпистолярного романа. Автор демонстрирует всю сложность взаимоотношений двух сословий: аристократии и простолюдинов с точки зрения пятнадцатилетней служанки Памелы.

Аглинская нравоучительная повѣсть Въ IV Частяхъ Переведенная съ Французскаго языка. ПРЕДИСЛОВІЕ французскаго переводчика Не большое сіе Сочиненіе столь благосклонно въ Англіи было принято, что въ одинъ годъ онаго пять тисненій вышло. Оное доказываетъ, что издатель умѣлъ найти вкусъ общественной; однако же оно также какъ и прочія, было подвержено порицанію. Но гдѣ найти такое твореніе, которое бы не порицалось! Сидъ (* Г. де ла Бруера.) есть изъ лучшихъ Поемъ, какую только сочинить было возможно; не оставлено было безъ осужденія. Слѣдственно не должно казаться удивительнымъ, что и Памела была осуждаема. Однако я не стану…