Samuel Richardson and Edward Young's Authorship Network

Source Publication (e.g., journal title)

Eighteenth-Century Studies

Authors

Hilary Havens, University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8632-5847

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1353/ecs.2023.a900661

Abstract

The correspondence between Edward Young and Samuel Richardson reveals not only their reciprocal friendship, but also their complex network of authorship. Beginning with Young’s Night-Thoughts (1742–46) and Richardson’s Clarissa (1747–48), Richardson took an increasingly active role in Young’s compositions, culminating in Conjectures on Original Composition (1759), while Young had a diminished effect on Richardson’s writings. By viewing their work as part of a larger trajectory of literary influence, we can trace Richardson’s significant impact on Conjectures on Original Composition and rightly consider him as that text’s co-author, though he is framed instead as the work’s recipient.

Recommended Citation

Hilary Havens, “Samuel Richardson and Edward Young’s Authorship Network,” Eighteenth-Century Studies 56.4 (2023): 601-18.

Submission Type

Post-print