Reading Clarissa by William Warner

This study first offers Warner's own reading of the text and then examines the critical history of the publication of Clarissa. While his reading of the text was informative, I far preferred the second half of the book, which focuses on the critical reception of the novel. Richardson published Clarissa in parts, and was in correspondence with (mostly female) readers about how the novel should end even as the final volume went to press. He declined to take the most popular suggestion (to marry Clarissa to Lovelace), but he did consider readers' input when publishing his second and third editions of Clarissa, which were edited to make Lovelace nastier and less likeable than before.