Posthumous Presence in Richardson’s Clarissa

Abstract

In Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa , the eponymous heroine speaks from the dead. Her posthumous texts transcend the strictures of linear time and signal her commitment to a traditional Christian conception of temporality. By delineating that commitment, and by analyzing her posthumous texts in light of anthropological studies of material culture, this essay demonstrates that Clarissa remains dedicated to reforming the present world even after she enters divine eternity. The essay revises previous evaluations of Clarissa’s death that claim she is silenced in the grave. Ultimately, Clarissa reveals itself to be less hostile to the material world than is commonly assumed.

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