Book Post: Clarissa: martyrdom in period England. Cecilia: or passionate aristocrats make me hot

[dangermousie]

I finally caved in and bought the BBC adaptation of Clarissa, Samuel Richardson's famous 18th century novel about a virtuous woman from a horrible family who ends up at the mercy of the rake Lovelace. Nothing good comes out of it, of course. This is the kind of novel where you count corpses by the end.

I must admit, a huge reason for buying this is because Sean Bean plays Lovelace. Lovelace is my favorite character in the book. Not in the sense of finding him good or likeable (he gets his just comeuppance, and he is a truly awful person), but because of the mix of fascinating qualities that a villain of a melodrama usually never has: he truly falls in love with Clarissa, but not enough to overcome his character, his pride, or his cruel streak. He is horrible, but he is fascinating, and I think Sean Bean can portay this duality wonderfully. Clarissa has to be both repelled and attracted. And, I know it's an unfashionable admission, but I rather like Clarissa. True, she is a bit too saintly and preachy for my liking, but she gets such a raw deal, you keep rooting for her to end up happy and just end up doing a mental equivalent of peeking through fingers to see what horrible thing will happen next.

And I love the irony of Clarissa/Lovelace. Because she could have loved him if he didn't ruin it all.

Now all I want is an adaptation of my favorite 18th century novel, Cecilia by Fanny Burney. I adore Cecilia and have a crush on Delville. Cecilia is smart, strong and full of common sense. Delville is a dutiful young aristocrat who finally has enough and defies his psycho Mom for the love of Cecilia (in my favorite scene in the book. I think Austen got a bit of inspiration there for the whole Lady Catherine thing). The book is chockful of funny scenes, passionate declarations of love, misunderstandings, jealousy, elopment, and every other good thing. I never understood why Burney's Evelina, with the really annoying secondary characters, insipid heroine and patterncard of perfection hero, is better known.

Comments

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it, but queenofthorns once showed it to me, edited for the "good", i.e. bean-y parts. He is excellent. She is insipid. Quite likely the character is as much of a problem as the actress, so if you like Clarissa, you may like how she's played.

I just spent the whole time wondering why she kept on resisting the gorgeous Lovelace.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yum!

Yes, Clarissa is insipid. She is supposed to be. I do feel sorry for her in the book, because even if she is a Miss Goody Two Shoes, she doesn't deserve her hideous family or any of the other bad things.

just spent the whole time wondering why she kept on resisting the gorgeous Lovelace

The thing is, I was both frustrated and in love with that concept. Because it's the key of who she is: a woman of really rigid principles. Lovelace is actually attracted to her for the very same qualities that will make it impossible for them to be together (her purity and uncompromising nature for one). And his nature won't let him bend, either. They are doomed by their inherent flaws.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

I think it's really a fabulous adaptation - Lovelace and Clarissa play this game and yes, her principles are what simultaneously attract him to her (and what at various points almost make him love her) and also make him determined to destroy her...

What I love about the movie version is that there is such a sense of "if only..." because they COULD have been compatible and they COULD have been good for each other if only Lovelace could have put away his desire to make another conquest. Anyway, in short - I love this one!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I actually got it because you mentioned it a few times on your lj and it sounded interesting...

But yes, can't wait to watch.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Let me know how you like the adaptation. I remember it being good, but I'm not sure if my memory is playing tricks on me; it did inspire my first attempt to read the novel, which ended in miserable failure about 50 pages in. (I think I was on my fifth try before I managed to finish the book).

I've only ever read Burney's Evelina. I liked it well enough but it didn't leave me desparate to read anything else by her - especially as 18th century novels require an investment of huge amounts of time.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I like Evelina much less than Cecilia. If you ever have scads of time :D I recommend Cecilia highly. I thought it was in another universe as far as quality was concerned, compared with Evelina. However, it's also much thicker.

Clarissa? I read it in college for fun. I found it relaxing: all these annoying people annoying each other :)