creaturecomforts13 t1_j7v4tw0 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 5:06 PM

Reply to comment by runningstitch in Why do some books blank out arbitrary place names? by PangeanPrawn

Yes! It was explained to me when I studied "the novel" as part of my English Lit degree. When the novel first emerged, they were seen as frivolous because they were fictional (and also because they were popular with women). A lot of authors tried to get around that by framing them as epistolary, retellings of stories they heard from a friend of a friend of a... or cautionary tales.

It's one of my favourite little known facts!

runningstitch t1_j7v8lcc wrote on February 9, 2023 at 5:29 PM

The newly literate female reader is also why so many early novels are moralistic in nature. Richardson couldn't help but jump at the chance to warn women against... well, having a thought of their own.

Bubble_James_Bubble t1_j7vg6l0 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 6:16 PM

Once they start thinkin, well by God they're going to want rights

cliff_smiff t1_j7vgzhy wrote on February 9, 2023 at 6:21 PM

Whose going to want rights?

Complex_Dragonfly_59 t1_j7vjom2 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 6:38 PM

Absolutely! Interestingly, there are many female novelists prior to Richardson (Eliza Haywood is perhaps the best known example ) who wrote much racier, less “moral” work, which was very popular with readers of all genders. Richardson is reacting to an already well-established genre of “romances.”

Caleb_Trask19 t1_j7vyxui wrote on February 9, 2023 at 8:10 PM

This is true of Dangerous Liaisons which I’m reading now.

Electrical_Jaguar596 t1_j7y1x3h wrote on February 10, 2023 at 5:20 AM

I just read The Color Purple, which is epistolary and also redacts a person’s name like this. I wonder if Alice Walker was deliberately mimicking early novels (maybe as a statement about the newness of the black voice in literature?).