One way that readership has changed since the 18th century when Clarissa was first published is the lack of a reading community. English students read texts for class and discuss them with a group, and book clubs are certainly a staple of 21st century reading practices. But something has been lost from the 18th-century practices of long-term reading as a community, of pouring over a text a chapter or two at a time as it is released serially. We rarely read texts as a group, and even when we do, it is rare for a group of people to launch an extended, long-term reading of a text. Even students and book club members generally read a book in either its entirety or in very large portions (thirds or halves at a time) before meeting to discuss it. The writers of this blog chose to read this text together over the course of a semester, but I argue that it was not through this choice but rather through the affordances of a blog that we were able to perform as a reading community and thus interact with one another and the text in new and exciting ways. 

By remediating the novel as a blog, we opened a space for discussion of the text that is physically not possible in the classroom and unlikely to happen spontaneously among a group of people. The mechanism of choosing specific letters and themes to discuss each week helped those involved work through particular elements of the text, even when that specific part was not discussed in class. The process of choosing and commenting on letters helped us all engage with the text throughout the week, rather than only on Tuesday nights. 

Often, class discussions revolve around academic responses to a text, but the blog allowed for both personal and academic discussion of Clarissa. We were able to discuss our frustrations with the characters, our deeply emotional responses to various characters’ deaths, and still compose arguments about specific themes or passages through the comments on each letter. This was incredibly useful and helped engage the group of readers both personally and academically, broadening our interaction with the text and with our reading community.

Another potential problem with class discussion is the time it takes to ingest and understand alternate points of view. This problem was lessened thanks to the blogging aspect of the course. Because we were writing on and reading the blog all week, we were able to think through different views of the text before we even came to class. 

I found that remediating Clarissa as a blog allowed for much deeper discussion and a more engaged interaction with both the text and other readers. I believe that this method of reading Clarissa helped me not only understand the text better, but also enjoy it more. By combining the communal reading practices of the 18th century and common technological innovations of the 21st century, we were able to interact with Clarissa in a new and, I believe, more meaningful way.