Subjective view
Sir: Robin Lee seems engaged in a vendetta against the BBC Clarissa. Having already harangued readers of the Mail on Sunday (1 September) she offers her reheated com- ments to readers of The Spectator (14 September). One point above all needs to be made in reply. Robin Lee has not seen a `I can offer you a happy marriage and a trouble-free divorce.'
single episode of the television serial which she denounces with such apparent authori- ty; her assertions are concocted from unrecorded quotes and, apparently, some acquaintance with an early version of the script.
Lee likes to present herself as virtually the sole authority on Richardson's novel. Her ridiculous assertion that 'only three dons' in the Cambridge English Faculty 'so much as claim to have read' it, is only sur- passed by her consistent claims that no one involved in the BBC Clarissa is remotely concerned with the integrity of the work. As an academic specialist in 18th-century literature, teaching and examining under- graduates and postgraduates on Richard- son's novel for nearly two decades, I strong- ly resent this slur to my reputation. The script for this serial, co-written by myself and Janet Barron, was scrutinised by the producer and script-editor who both read the novel thoroughly. It is not we, but Robin Lee, in her 'shock-horror' articles, who seems obsessed by presenting Claris- sa's rape in gratuitously sensational and headline-grabbing terms.
I yield to no-one in my admiration for the psychological complexity and moral weight of Richardson's novel, and would never be a party to the kind of travesty Lee delights in proclaiming. I trust that, despite her malicious caricature, viewers will judge for themselves, and may even be inspired, after watching Clarissa, to go out and buy and read one of the greatest novels in English Dr David Nokes
Reader in English Literature, King's College, London WC2
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