[ Pamela in Her Exalted Condition [ PAMELA IN HER EXALTED CONDITION BY Richardson, Samuel ( Author ) May-07-2012[ PAMELA IN HER EXALTED CONDITION [ PAMELA IN HER EXALTED CONDITION BY RICHARDSON, SAMUEL ( AUTHOR ) MAY-07-2012 ] By Richardson, Samuel ( A...

by Samuel Richardson

BY Richardson, Samuel ( Author ) [{ Pamela in Her Exalted Condition [ PAMELA IN HER EXALTED CONDITION BY Richardson, Samuel ( Author ) May-07-2012[ PAMELA IN HER EXALTED CONDITION [ PAMELA IN HER EXALTED CONDITION BY RICHARDSON, SAMUEL ( AUTHOR ) MAY-07-2012 ] By Richardson, Samuel ( Author )May-07-2012 Hardcover By Richardson, Samuel ( Author ) May - 07- 2012 ( Hardcover ) } ]

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

Pamela (1740) and Clarissa Harlowe (1748) of English writer Samuel Richardson helped to legitimize the novel as a literary form in English.

An established printer and publisher for most of his life, Richardson wrote his first novel at the age of 51. He is best known for his major 18th-century epistolary novel Sir Charles Grandison (1753).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_...

Reviews

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not read this kindle edition but a Delphi Collection of his works which has both Pamela stories. Below is a review from years ago with both books included.

After reading Samuel Richardson's Clarissa Harlowe, I knew I had to read his first novel "Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded". Richardson was a printer and was urged by his friends to help illiterate population by examples of some form letters to help guide & instruct. His epistolary style was praised & the idea of Pamela came to be. He also wanted to instruct young people about the importance of God & virtuous living. Pamela was received with favorable following that he soon followed up with a sequel "Pamela in Her Exalted Condition". After finishing the first Pamela, I could not wait to read the whole story. This story had many of the same themes as Clarissa but with a different spin. The story is told in letters instead of chapters. The letters are not dated but the receiver & writer is revealed to us. In Virtue Rewarded Pamela Andrews is writing to her parents who are extremely poor due to occurrences of not their doing. Pamela is sent away at a young age of 10 years old to become a Lady's maidservant & becomes the favorite. In the letters to her parents she tells them of her Lady's death which recently occurred. Mr. B. (who is 25 years old), the Lady's son takes a liking to 16 year old Pamela. Unaware of any trouble coming her way & wondering about certain kindness the son gives to her she writes her parents for advice & they give it to her. She finds herself in a precarious situations which are governed by her wise & prudent behavior learned early in life by her parents, her religion & her Lady. Mr. B. is soon found to have a libertine background which makes Pamela fearful for herself & her virtue. Lady Davers, Mr. B's sister is concerned for the young girl & her brother's reputation. Pamela being poor & the Lady's family being rich. Lady Daver's is quite cross with her brother who seems to be thinking of his own desires which are not honorable. The second book tells of Pamela in her married state which has her dealing with jealously & an unknown future. Lady Davers & her husband's relative Mr. H. & his character comes into question. Both of these books compare living life with & without virtue & examples of both are given. Many different characters & their results of which path they took are the focus of both these books. ** The second book has several letters commenting on John Locke's Treatise of Education which was quite interesting in comparing life in the 18th century & present day. I found the arguments for & against breast feeding an infant extremely interesting because many classic novels have wet nurses so the mothers are free from this activity. Pamela is so desirous of this activity but her husband is against this. She is disappointed but submits to his wishes. Reading older books you have an idea what some of societies' problems & issues were living during that period in time. A few quotes- that caught my eye-"Mr. Locke says, that he has known a child so distracted with the number and variety of his playthings, that he tired his maid every day to look them over: and was so accustomed to abundance, that he never thought he had enough, but was always asking, "What more? What new thing shall I have? -"A good introduction," adds he, ironically, "to moderate desires, and the ready way to make a contented happy man."This quote reminds us all that no matter who we are rich or poor we come to the same end & God is the judge of all our doings & only our actions are important."Does various parts for various minds dispense: The meanest slaves, or those who hedge and ditch, Are useful, by their sweat, to feed the rich. The rich, in due return, impart their store; Which comfortably feeds the lab'ring poor. Nor let the rich the lowest slave distain: He's equally a link of Nature's chain: Labours to the same end, joins in one view; And both alike the will divine pursue; And, at the last, are levell'd, king and slave, Without distinction, in the silent grave."

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sequel Pamela in her Exalted Condition, a comedy of manners, includes the welcome addition of new characters, lightening the load. And rather than bathos, there is repeated and extended disquisition on the threat posed by rakes, and the unlikelihood of any rake, such as Mr. B., reforming their ways. There is even some verisimilitude in the prospect of Mr. B. ‘losing his footing’ with his “sliding feet,” slipping down the slope to hell, as would the eponymous rake. But for all the interspersed discussion of “every rake who loved to destroy virtue” (LETTER XXXII; cp. “rakery” LETTER XLIX), and the fine distinctions laying out the differences among “clumsy and sordid rakes”, “sad rakes,” “rakes and sharpers,” “open-eyed rakes,” “rake libertines,” “fops and rakes,” “common town rakes,” “brother-rakes,” “worn-out debauchees” and the chimerical “reformed rake” --they make no brilliant appearance in the novel, unless you still want to include Mr. B. There is still no explanation, really, for Mr. B’s reformation (or transformation into a penitent rake), which is admitted by Richardson to have been “spontaneous” (the penultimate letter, LETTER CII) or, as you like, “by the grace of God” (in Pamela’s estimation, LETTERS XCIV, XCVIII). The closest to an explanation is that given by Lady Davers, who insists still, much the same as in Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, that there is something about Pamela, call it the eternal feminine or wotnot, with the effect “insomuch that no rakes can be rakes in [her] presence, and yet they hardly know to what they owe their restraint.” (LETTER L, “From Lady Davers to Mrs. B.”). Still, the book has its moments, perhaps even better ones than does the preceding work, howsoever much that must needs be read first.

There are perhaps some opportunities missed, where Richardson fails to provide the promised replies from Mr. B. to Pamela’s commentary on the best education for toddlers, children and young adults, where Mr. B. would clearly have been confronted, by way of contrast with Pamela’s ideal pedagogical regimen, with his own wayward upbringing in his noble household. Something has to account for his rakery, if Richardson was trying to write a psychological novel. That upbringing also has much to answer for Lady Davers’ napoleonic strides, so her response to Pamela’s letters on education would also have been interesting, and likely would also have provided further grounds for humorous delectation. Finally, as an educational tract, Pamela’s “book” --written upon request of Mr. B., or at his prompting, as part of their married life together-- should surely have provided us more insights into the Pygmalion moment, how this Eliza Doolittle became acceptable to high society, by dint or dole of her mistress Lady B's decided and prolonged concern for her maidservant. Letters from Pamela’s actual parents on her upbringing are also wanting, that could have been opposed to those of the mistress Lady B. who adopted her and decided to see how far she could mold her. In sum, where should the credit go, in Pamela’s formative years—to her lower-class biological parents, who govern her until the age of about 11, or to her upper-class parent(s), who governed her until the age of 17? With this much needed backstory, and Richardson's foray into pedagogical debates, there’s a prequel to Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, that could have been written, if this matter of Pamela's upbringing or molding could not have been discussed here, in Pamela’s exaltation. In so far as he goes in providing a pedagogy, Richardson seems to endorse a kind of Pygmalion effect, for its benefit in bringing about desired conduct, and the reverse stereotype threat, to discountenance unwanted behaviors, in children or young adults.

If you choose to read the free download from Project Gutenberg, you may also want to use other online resources such as Wiktionary to look up obsolete terms in Richardson’s novel, or Wikipedia to help with obscure references, or even Wikisource to supplement your reading of the novel with John Locke’s Treatise on Education (1693) or Johnathan Swift’s acerbic “Letter to a Very Young Lady on Her Marriage” (ca.1703-1720), or even Swift’s poem "Cadenus and Vanessa" (1713), these three additional sources being used, either directly or by allusion, in Pamela’s own letters.

[Jordan Kolby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie I was not looking forward to reading this. The only reason I did is because it is a sequel to the dreaded 'Pamela'. The plot is less problematic but it is long, boring and not much happens at all. Like the first book, there are no chapters. Instead, the book consists of a series of letters where everything is explained in the minutest detail...literally everything! This book did not need to be as descriptive as it was. The only reason I can think of why it is like that is because of the period it was written in. This was a struggle.

[Hannah Conner · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this sequel to "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" was not as cohesive (the author sometimes comes across as using the book to essay his opinions) it is still a worthwhile read. A few of her letters were dull, but several were very interesting.

[Marianna Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must say something positive. Let me see..

Well, Pamela does come across as a little less smug than she does in the first novel. She isn't malicious or low minded about the woman with whom at one point she imagines Mr.B. has fallen in love. That is truly to her credit.

Two and a half stars rounded up to three, as I am a generous marker, and as I know how unpleasant it is to get a low star rating, I find I can't give one even for sententious,boring nonsense like this, brimful of self serving, puritanical morality, and written an author dead for 250 years.

Only recommended for Richardson scholars.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a reread. Some parts were a major slog, others were fascinating: Pamela is often annoying, but sometimes in an interesting way.