I find it interesting how Manley manages to ‘life-write’ through unconventional means. The “Adventures of Rivella” are told not by Rivella [DM] herself*, but rather by Lovemore–a former admirer to boot. Bravo madame! What an effective design if her goal is to paint a flattering self-portrait. Though DM is materially responsible for the text, the narrative frame she sets up absolves her of this direct responsibility. Implied (in this structure or mechanism of delivery) is some hidden authority in the reportage, or accounts, of others. The rumor mill, however, also wrecks her reputation, as Lovemore aptly describes. This frame occurs alongside a condensing of that psychologial probity that we saw earlier in Bunyan and Defoe. Lovemore is not omniscient, nor is he the heroine; in reading her life-story, we do so by his selective principle. So far this is pageturner for me…so much happens w/in one page. Events are truncated in this account (exactly how remains TBD), unlike the narrative turn we’ve witnessed in the self-penned, ‘conversion’ texts.
*well, at least as far as I’ve read
–Nancy Derbyshire
