RE: “Formatting and Judgement in Humphry Clinker”

Hi Brian – I’m glad you posted about the format because it surprised me so much that after I read the first few letters and realized the rest of the book was letters, I did a search of Google to make sure I was reading the right book. That being said, I totally agree with your comment that it gets tedious, and I found the book pretty slow at first. The story about the carriage overturning and Matt bolting “through the window, as nimble as a grasshopper, having made use of poor Win’s posteriors as a step to rise in his ascent,” made me laugh out loud and from there I thought it became much better. Additionally, I like your observation that the letters visually organize and integrate the stories, and now that we’ve seen how much the characters gossip about each other, no wonder the publisher was so apprehensive about printing them!