Pamela by Samuel Richardson | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Samuel Richardson was an English writer, and printer, who was a good friend and contemporary writer of Samuel Johnson. He was baptized on August 19, 1689, and he died on July 4, 1761. Richardson began his career as a printer in 1706 at the age of 17 when he chose to work as an apprentice of a well-known printer John Wilde. Richardson chose the profession of printing because he hoped to "gratify a thirst for reading.” Being an avid reader, he developed an interest in writing, however, he failed to get any patrons. He began his writing career in 1733 when he wrote The Apprentice's Vade Mecum, urging young men like himself to be diligent and self-denying. In 1739, his friends asked him to write and publish epistolatory articles in a common style to help those countrymen who find it hard to attain quality literature. This proposal inspired him to write his first epistolatory novel titled Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded which was first published in 1740. An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters between the fictional characters of a narrative. Pamela is considered one of the first English novels and the first modern novel. It is a form of conduct literature about marriage. Conduct literature is a genre of books that attempts to educate the reader on social norms and ideals.
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