本論文主旨在闡明巴洛可之摺與書信體文類的關係。我爰用奇理斯‧狄洛伊茲(Gilles Deleuze)巴洛可之摺的動能概念來詮釋山繆爾‧李察遜的《克萊麗莎》(Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady)，並證明書信體形式上的特徵之於其故事內容有決定性的影響。近年來有關《克萊麗莎》的理論多卓著重於其言說的論戰，即小說的內容而非就書信體文類本身特色加以發揮。書信體小說是由信件集結而成，在形式上的特色與其它敘述文類實有很大的區別。因此，在閱讀書信體小說時必不能忽略一些機械性的外在因素之於敘述內容的影響。一封信從寫成、裝入信封、封口、送信、收信、拆信、讀信、等等步驟，其間上述程序有可能重複，而每個環節都使得信件為傳遞媒介的不確定性增加。事實上，一封信所傳達的訊息常取決於外在的、物質性的攜帶者，即其形貌留給予觀者的印象。將巴洛可的概念引介入書信體文類就是要強調書信的「形」如何作用於文本。《克萊麗莎》是一個豐盛繁茂、難以箝制的巴洛可世界，處於文本外的作者及閱眾亦無可避免地隨著巴洛可之摺的開合而進入書信體小說的佈局中。

This thesis is to explore the relation of the Baroque fold and epistolarity. By adopting Gilles Deleuze's notion of the baroque of fold presented in The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque, I will demonstrate how the formal features structurally and thematically influence Samuel Richardson's epistolary novel Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady(1747-48). Epistolary writing is a form-conscious narrative. Besides the letter enclosed, the content, there are many mechanic factors affecting the delivery of a message. A letter is written and signed, yet it is only the initial stage of the correspondence. From the envelope, the seal, to the process of transmission, every step plays an indispensable role and thus makes letter not a passive carrier but a message-shaper with autonomous force. To read Clarissa in the light of the Baroque is to accentuate the importance of the formal features that have tremendous effect in animating the epistolary world. Furthermore, I compare the public-entailed nature of the private writing in an epistolary novel to the subject-forming process, and show how people inside and outside the text are irresistibly drawn into the (un)folding movement of the epistolary Baroque world.