Review of Bonnie Latimer, Making Gender, Culture, and the Self in the Fiction of Samuel Richardson: The Novel Individual

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.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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