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Author Biography

Karen Lipsedge is a Principal Lecturer in English Literature at Kingston University and is interested in eighteenth-century domestic space, interiors, the relationship between objects and people, and the novel. Lipsedge has written a number of articles and chapters on the representation of the eighteenth-century domestic interior in the British novel and has recently published a book with Palgrave Macmillan; Domestic Space in the Eighteenth-Century British Novel (2012). Her research thus far has paid particular attention to the representation of women and domestic interiors. In light of the work of scholars such as Vickery and Harvey, her current research turns its attention to the representation of men and domestic interiors.

Abstract

Latimer’s Making Gender, Culture, and the Self in the Fiction of Samuel Richardson answers a need in eighteenth-century Richardsonian studies. It is also a thoughtful and long overdue study, which deserves praise and attention. Latimer provides the reader with a greater understanding of the notion of female individuality in Richardson’s novels, and also of eighteenth-century culture and contemporary literature. Her research is gratifying in its level of detail, and she is deft in showing correspondences between eighteenth-century culture, fiction and Richardson’s novels. Although Sir Charles Grandison lies at the heart of this study, Latimer is equally skilful in devoting attention to Richardson’s last novel without marginalizing his other work. In addition, Latimer offers a refreshing and fitting conclusion to Making Gender, Culture, and the Self in the Fiction of Samuel Richardson. By ending with an Afterword, Latimer ensures that she opens out and extends the discussion on the female individual, Richardson’s novels and his literary legacy. In Making Gender, Culture, and the Self in the Fiction of Samuel Richardson Latimer suggests that further examination of these areas is not only timely, but also necessary and rewarding.

Keywords

Richardsonian studies, Sir Charles Grandison, eighteenth-century fiction and culture, the eighteenth-century female individual

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