ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces Richardson's great novel Clarissa, and the vertiginous spiral in which both Clarissa and Lovelace strive to establish what they feel for the other on the basis of what they can ascertain the other feels for them. In this mutually destructive courtship dance, the indeterminacy of their language - how can either ever certainly mean what they say? - extends to the indeterminacy of their very selves and desires. The drama of attempted seduction is reinforced by Richardson's handling of epistolary form, in which the act of utterance jeopardizes the integrity of that internal life which it seeks to assert. Laclos's novel Dangerous Liaisons is discussed as a wonderfully intelligent take on this aspect of Clarissa, looking particularly at the difficulty of saying what Valmont feels for Tourvel. A brief coda on Austen's Lady Susan opens the significance of Austen's movement from epistolary to narrative form, and the sense in which this addresses the protagonist's need for someone to 'speak for' her.
