ABSTRACT
In this section from her book Desire and Domestic Fiction (see Intro duction, pp. 20-21), Nancy Armstrong applies her thesis about the making of gender ideology and fiction to Pamela, which she sees as setting a precedent for the ideological program she describes. By framing a tale of seduction within the framework of the conductbook tradition, Richardson was able to reveal two things at once: how a woman could be defined as distinctly feminine, and how a woman could be made to seem desirable. Moreover, through the vehicle of his fiction Richardson insinuates that debate into numer ous different social venues. Armstrong argues however that the success of that project did not necessarily amount to the oppression of women. For in her resistance to Mr. B., Pamela helped to define a crucial ideological distinction between men and women, where women could strategically assert their difference from men.
