Samuel Richardson and the theory of tragedy is a bold new interpretation of one of the greatest European novels, Samuel Richardson's Clarissa. It argues that this text needs to be rethought as a dangerous exploration of the ethics of tragedy, on the scale of the great arguments of post-Romantic tragic theory, from Hoelderlin to Nietzsche, to Benjamin, Lacan and beyond.
Taking the reader through the novel from beginning to end, it also acts as a guidebook for newcomers to Richardson's notoriously massive text, and situates it alongside Richardson's other works and the epistolary novel form in general. Filled with innovative close readings that will provoke scholars, students and general readers of the novel alike, it will also serve as a jumping off point for anyone interested in the way the theory of tragedy continues to be the privileged meeting point between literature and philosophy.
- ISBN10 0719097932
- ISBN13 9780719097935
- Publish Date 22 April 2016 (first published 29 April 2015)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 27 January 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Manchester University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 192
- Language English