Clarissa or The Story of a Young WomanThere are many famous writers in the Johnson era. One of these authors is Samuel Richardson, who was a novelist. His most popular novels were Pamela and Clarissa, both consisting of a series of letters. Clarissa, however, was considered one of his most popular European novels. “His masterpiece, Clarissa, or the Story of a Young Lady, one of the greatest European novels, was published in 1747-8” (Richardson, 1). When Richardson wrote Clarissa, his intention was to write a novel of a series of letters that were written by an inexperienced author. This book contains 537 letters written by various characters in the novel. Since the book is so long I couldn't read it all nor have I ever read it before. As a result I can't say much about it. Because I find it a little difficult to read, I wasn't able to read as much as I wanted in the four hours we were supposed to set aside to read the book. I still managed to read the first eight letters of the novel. The first letter was written to Clarissa Harlowe by her good friend Anna Howe. This letter is used to introduce the reader to the problems that occurred in the Harlowe household which led to Clarissa being the subject of gossip. The letters that follow this one are from Clarissa to Anna and explain what happened. Trouble begins when Mr. Lovelace begins visiting the Harlowe house; he is believed to be there to woo his eldest daughter. However, this doesn't work and he then decides that he would like to date his youngest daughter, who is Clarissa. This is not much appreciated by his brother because Mr. Lovelace has been his enemy throughout college and now there is a grudge between the two. As a result, Clarissa's brother and Mr. Lovelace argue and Clarissa's brother is injured. That's why no one else in the family takes care of him anymore. However, this does not stop him from pursuing Clarissa.