Sexual Violence in History: A Bibliography

compiled by Stefan Blaschke

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Alphabetical Index

+ Author Index

+ Speaker Index


Chronological Index

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Geographical Index

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Topical Index

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Start: Topical Index: Representations: Literary Texts: 18th Century:

Representations: Literary Texts:
SAMUEL RICHARDSON

G e n e r a l   I n f o r m a t i o n

»Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748) and The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753). He printed almost 500 works, including journals and magazines, working periodically with the London bookseller Andrew Millar. Richardson had been apprenticed to the printer John Wilde, whose daughter Martha he eventually married. All six of their children died in infancy or childbirth, with Martha herself dying in childbirth in 1731. In 1733, he married Elizabeth Leake, daughter of printer John Leake. Together they had six more children, of whom four daughters reached adulthood. Richardson's first novel, Pamela, was penned at the age of 51 and was an instant success. Leading acquaintances included Samuel Johnson and Sarah Fielding, the physician and Behmenist George Cheyne, and the theologian and writer William Law, whose books he printed. At Law's request, Richardson printed some poems by John Byrom. In literature, he rivalled Henry Fielding; the two responded to each other's literary styles.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)



B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Baker, Lesley A. Rape and Resistance: Sexual Violence and the Production of Culture in Eighteenth-Century Fiction. Ph.D. Thesis, Tulane University, 1994.

II. Speaker Index

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Clarissa

I n f o r m a t i o n

»Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. And Particularly Shewing, the Distresses that May Attend the Misconduct Both of Parents and Children, In Relation to Marriage is an epistolary novel by English writer Samuel Richardson, published in 1748. The novel tells the tragic story of a young woman, Clarissa Harlowe, whose quest for virtue is continually thwarted by her family. The Harlowes are a recently wealthy family whose preoccupation with increasing their standing in society leads to obsessive control of their daughter, Clarissa. It is considered one of the longest novels in the English language (based on estimated word count). It is generally regarded as Richardson's masterpiece. « (Extract from: Wikipedia)



K e y w o r d s

I. Chronological Index: Modern History: 18th Century

II. Geographical Index: European History: English History

III. Topical Index: Cases: Fictional Offenders: Robert Lovelace; Fictional Victims: Clarissa Harlowe | Types General: Rape


B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Adams, Michael. »Specular Rape: Reflections on Early Modern Reflections of the Present Day.« Centennial Review 41 (1997): 217-250.

[Info] Affleckt, Stacy. Mythical Creatures: The Gothic/Romantic Evolution of the Pained Female Rape Victim. M.A. Thesis, Rutgers-The States University of New Jersey, 2013.

[Info] Albin, Jennifer L. 'A Subject So Shocking': The Female Sex Offender in Richardson's Clarissa. M.A. Thesis, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006.

[Info] Castle, Terry. Clarissa’s ciphers. Meaning and disruption in Richardson’s Clarissa. Ithaca 1982.

[Info] Constantine, Stephen M. By a gentle force compell’d. An analysis of rape in eighteenth-century English fact and fiction. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 2006.

[Info] Cox, Kimberly. »Reading Literary Rape: Hand-Grabbing, #MeToo, and Haptic Reciprocity in Eighteenthand Nineteenth-Century Novels.« Nineteenth Century Gender Studies 16.2 (2020).

[Info] Doederlein, Sue W. »Clarissa in the hands of the critics.« Eighteenth-century studies 16 (1983): 401-414.

[Info] Eagleton, Terry. The Rape of Clarissa: Writing, Sexuality, and Class Struggle in Samuel Richardson. Oxford 1982.

[Info] Eagleton, Terry. The Rape of Clarissa: Writing, Sexuality, and Class Struggle in Samuel Richardson. Minneapolis 1982.

[Info] Flynn, Carol H., et al., eds. Clarissa and Her Readers: New Essays For The Clarissa Project. New York 1999.

[Info] Krake, Astrid. »He could go no farther. The Rape of Clarissa in 18th-century translations.« La traduction du discours amoureux, 1660-1830. Edited by Annie Cointre et al. Metz 2006: 79-97.

[Info] Leederman, Tara A. The Site of the Crime: Trial Narratives, Forensic Reading, and the Novels of Samuel Richardson. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Irvine, 2023.

[Info] Miller, Sarah. Rape and metamorphosis. Reading embodied experience in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Richardson’s Clarissa. M.A. Thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003.

[Info] Nawrot, Dawn A. The Female Accomplice: Rape, Liberalism, and the Eighteenth-Century English Novel. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 2016.

[Info] Parker, Kate, et al. »"Side By Side With a Ruinous, Ever-Present Past": Trauma-Informed Teaching and the Eighteenth Century, Clarissa, and Fantomina.« ABO 11(1) (2021).

[Info] Robertson, Linda E. "Dreams Sleeping and Dreams Waking": A Psychoanalytic Study of Dreams and Phantasies in Richardson's Clarissa. M.A. Thesis, McMaster University, 1977.

[Info] Schwarz, Joan I. "Clarissa" and the law. Inheritance, abduction and rape. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992.

[Info] Stevenson, John A. The virgin, the rake, and the writer: Richardson and sex. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Virginia, 1983.

[Info] Wagner, Ann K. »Sexual Assault in the Shadow of the Law: Character and Proof in Samuel Richardson's ClarissaLaw & Literature 25 (2013): 311-326.

[Info] Warner, William B. »Reading rape. Marxist-feminist figurations of the literal.« Diacritics 13 (1983): 12-32.

[Info] Wight, Dana. Still Life: Representations of Passivity in the Gothic Novel. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Alberta, 2012.

[Info] Wood, L. Maren. Dangerous Liaisons: Narratives of Sexual Danger in the Anglo-American North, 1770-1820. Ph.D. Thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009.

[Info] Zigarovich, Jolene. »Courting Death: Necrophilia in Samuel Richardson's ClarissaStudies in the Novel 32 (2000): 112-128.

[Info] Zigarovich, Jolene. »Courting Death: Necrophilia in Samuel Richardson's ClarissaSex and Death in Eighteenth-Century Literature. Edited by Jolene Zigarovich. New York 2013: 76-102.

II. Speaker Index

[Info] Lubey, Kathleen. »The Forms of Clarissa’s Rape.« 15th Annual Meeting of Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies. Philadelphia 2008.

[Info] Spampinato, Erin. »‘Clarissa Lives’: Rape and the Problem of Other Minds in Clarissa48th Annual Convention of the Northeast Modern Language Association. Baltimore 2017.

[Info] Spampinato, Erin. »Rereading Rape in the Critical Canon.« 2019 MLA Annual Convention. Chicago 2019.

[Info] Wagner, Ann K. »Sexual Assault in the Shadow of the Law: Character and Proof in Samuel Richardson's ClarissaGender, Law, and the British Novel. Chicago 2010.



The History of Sir Charles Grandison

I n f o r m a t i o n

»« (Extract from: Wikipedia)


K e y w o r d s

I. Chronological Index: Modern History: 18th Century

II. Geographical Index: European History: English History

III. Topical Index: Types: General: Sexual Assault


B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Brown, Murray L. »Sir Hargrave Pollexfen, William Hogarth and "that Obelisk behind us". Sexual violence in Sir Charles Grandison.« Philological quarterly 75 (1996): 455-470.

II. Speaker Index

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Pamela

I n f o r m a t i o n

»Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel first published in 1740 by the English writer Samuel Richardson. Considered one of the first true English novels, it serves as Richardson's version of conduct literature about marriage.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)


K e y w o r d s

I. Chronological Index: Modern History: 18th Century

II. Geographical Index: European History: English History

III. Topical Index: Cases: Fictional Victims: Pamela Andrews | Types: General: Rape


B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Adams, Michael. »Specular Rape: Reflections on Early Modern Reflections of the Present Day.« Centennial Review 41 (1997): 217-250.

[Info] Cook, Nina E. »“A most wicked jest”: Titillation, Rape Jokes, and the Ethics of Laughter in PamelaStudies in the Novel 57 (2025): 257-273.

[Info] Jang, Lauri D. A Biocultural Exploration of Risk, Risk-Taking, and Female Sexual Engagement in British Narratives, 1683-1740. Ph.D. Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2018.

[Info] Leederman, Tara A. The Site of the Crime: Trial Narratives, Forensic Reading, and the Novels of Samuel Richardson. h.D. Thesis, University of California, Irvine, 2023.

[Info] Milne, Anne. In the Interest of Privacy, Some Names Have Been Changed: Rewriting and Richardson's Pamela. M.A. Thesis, McMaster University, 1994.

[Info] Nawrot, Dawn A. The Female Accomplice: Rape, Liberalism, and the Eighteenth-Century English Novel. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 2016.

[Info] Stahl, Jan M. Raging to write. Violence against women and women’s constructions of narrative in the English novel from Oroonoko through Pamela. Ann Arbor 2000.

[Info] Stahl, Jan M. How Eighteenth-Century Women Fended-Off Sexual Violence by Writing and Talking: A Study of Four British Novels by Delarivier Manley, Jane Barker, Eliza Haywood, and Samuel Richardson. Lewiston 2014.

[Info] Wight, Dana. Still Life: Representations of Passivity in the Gothic Novel. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Alberta, 2012.

II. Speaker Index

[Info] Campbell, Ann. »‘Out Rushed My Master, in a Rich Silk and Silver Morning Gown’: Addressing Attempted Rape in Richardson's Pamela48th ASECS Annual Meeting. Minneapolis 2017.

[Info] Moler Ford, Chelsey. »‘I was never soabsent in my life’: Sexual Trauma and Unnarration in Pamela51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. St. Louis 2020.

[Info] Moler Ford, Chelsey. »‘I was never soabsent in my life’: Sexual Trauma and Unnarration in Pamela51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Virtual 2021.