I think that if Clarissa Harlowe's story had been written by Burney, she would not have been so conveniently passive. (Eliza Haywood might have had her rout Lovelace.)
Evelina is pretty passive for the first third or so of the book, though. She has been much more assertive in rejecting men in the latest bits I've read, but it's still noticeable that it doesn't do a lot of good. I am a little shocked at the number of times men physically take her arm or hand or prevent her from walking away, even in front of other people
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> "I think Clarissa's problem was less being passive than that all the people around her were actively working against her interests or her expressed wishes. She's very clear very early that she isn't interested in Lovelace, but her own family still contrives to force them together. It's not that she doesn't protest. It's that her protests are overruled by other people's actions even before they're overruled by violence."
Yes, this - even the possibility of sheltering with Anna Howe is taken away by Anna's mother's objections. Even so, Clarissa manages to escape more than once, only to be recaptured; her enemy is in some sense the machinery of the high-concept plot itself, which simply won't give her any options besides rape.
I teach 18th century lit, so I'm a biased respondent, but - if you are enjoyed Evelina, try Maria Edgeworth's "Belinda" next! It's so great!
Franco Moretti has a very useful piece on Evelina and the genre of sentimental "female bildungsroman" in the late eighteenth century.
Haven't thought about "Evelina"'s relationship to "Clarissa" myself, but I do know that "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" was directly inspired by the character of Lovelace.
Oh, that looks very interesting! Thank you for the rec.
There is a BBC miniseries version of Clarissa that was clearly inspired by the film Dangerous Liaisons, and I have never been able to explain to anyone why I find the circle of influence so funny. (I don't recommend the BBC Clarissa; I don't think it gets the differences between Clarissa Harlowe and Mme. de Tourval, or more precisely the differences in their relationships to their would-be lovers.)
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Yes, this - even the possibility of sheltering with Anna Howe is taken away by Anna's mother's objections. Even so, Clarissa manages to escape more than once, only to be recaptured; her enemy is in some sense the machinery of the high-concept plot itself, which simply won't give her any options besides rape.
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Franco Moretti has a very useful piece on Evelina and the genre of sentimental "female bildungsroman" in the late eighteenth century.
Haven't thought about "Evelina"'s relationship to "Clarissa" myself, but I do know that "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" was directly inspired by the character of Lovelace.
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There is a BBC miniseries version of Clarissa that was clearly inspired by the film Dangerous Liaisons, and I have never been able to explain to anyone why I find the circle of influence so funny. (I don't recommend the BBC Clarissa; I don't think it gets the differences between Clarissa Harlowe and Mme. de Tourval, or more precisely the differences in their relationships to their would-be lovers.)
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