In this study, author Nancy A. Mace rectifies the lack of scholarly attention given Henry Fielding's use of the classical tradition in his novels, periodical essays, and miscellaneous writings. Although scholars have extensively studied the affinities between Henry Fielding's novels and such modern genres as the romance, travel literature, and criminal biography, they have paid surprisingly little attention to his use of the classical tradition in developing both his narrative theory and practice.
Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,3, University of Münster (Englisches Seminar), course: Samuel Richardson, language: English, abstract: By its publication, the novel "Pamela" became one of the most popular contemporary books of that time. One of the reasons for the enormous success of "Pamela" might have been that more and more women got interested in literature, especially in romantic novels or religious works. All in all, the era was dominated by a commercialization of literature, the rise of the realism and of the moralistic-didactic intentions, which implicated a change of the recipients of literature. Moreover, it entailed a decline of the aristocratic ideals and a rise of the lower middle class and its moral concepts . Also characteristic for that era, as already mentioned, are the so-called "conduct books", that aimed to educate the reader in the comportment in social life. Richardson, who was part of the lower middle class, with his novel "Pamela" is completely in step with the social spirit of that time. The topic of a young girl who is anxious of keeping her virtue is not new, but Richardson added this attribute to a servant girl, which is, even for that time, quite exceptional. "Servant girls (...) constituted a fairly important part of the reading public, and they found it particularly difficult to marry. (...) Richardson's heroine symbolised the aspirations of all the women in the reading public who were subject to the difficulty of getting married." Fielding, as a part of the aristocracy, criticized and satirized the over-morality that was presented in Richardson's novel and, furthermore, mocks Richardson's style in various way. Yet, all in all Fielding considers Richardsons moralistic and chaste point of view as an ambigious and even dissembling furtiveness.
A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this widely acclaimed tale about love, life, and baseball, praised by the New York Times as "wonderful...a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting." Named one of the year's best books by the New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg, Kansas City Star, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Time Out New York. At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment -- to oneself and to others. "First novels this complete and consuming come along very, very seldom." --Jonathan Franzen
This book presents and analyzes Magistrate (Justice of the Peace) Henry Fieldings impact on law and literature through his pamphlets, periodicals and novels, in the context of laws, legal affairs, legal administration, and the social-economic political and legal environment present in 18th century England. I demonstrate and argue that among novels of all timethe most extensive and diversified coverage of laws, Justices of Peace, lawyers, crimes, and the socio-economic environment, particularly rural 18th century England. Of all the noteworthy 18th century novelists or fiction writers, Justice Henry Fielding is the only one who was also a jurist. This book is also focused on demonstrating how extensively Fielding was consumed throughout his life and the area of law, from his early age to his death, but with a far broader spectrum, education, and experience than anyone except perhaps Lord High Chancellor Hardwicke and Sir William Blackstone. Justice Henry Fielding traveled a long and diversified path in the legal arena to reach the level of expertise, which he deployed in providing his public with Tom Jones, Amelia, and Joseph Andrews as well as his journals and political pamphlets.
A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighboring squireathough he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. When Tom is banished to make his own fortune and Sophia follows him to London to escape an arranged marriage, the adventure begins. A vivid Hogarthian panorama of eighteenth-century life, spiced with danger and intrigue, bawdy exuberance and good-natured authorial interjections, "Tom Jones" is one of the greatest and most ambitious comic novels in English literature.
Gale Researcher Guide for: Henry Fielding's Tom Jones and the English Novel is selected from Gale's academic platform Gale Researcher. These study guides provide peer-reviewed articles that allow students early success in finding scholarly materials and to gain the confidence and vocabulary needed to pursue deeper research.
Contents Include: Book 1: Of writing Lives in General, and Particularly of Pamela - Of Mr. Joseph Andrews, His Birth, Parentage, Education and Great Endowments - Of Mr. Abraham Adams the Curate, Mrs. Slipslop the Chambermaid and Others - What Happened after their Journey to London - The Death of Sir Thomas Booby - How Joseph Andrews writ a Letter to His Sister Pamela - A Dialogue Between the Lady and her Maid - The Interview Between the Lady and Joseph - What Passed Between the Lady and Mrs Slipslop - Joseph Writes another letter - Of Several New matters not Expected - Containing many Surprising Adventures - What happened to Joseph During his Sickness at the Inn - Being Very Full of Adventures which Succeeded each Other at the Inn - Showing how Mrs. Tow-Wouse was a Little Mollified - The Escape of the Thief, Mr. Adam's Disappointment - A Pleasant Discourse between the two Parsons and the Bookseller - The History of Betty the Chambermaid and an Account of what Occasioned the Violent Scene in the Preceding Chapter - Book II: Of Divisions in Authors - A Surprising Instance of Mr. Adam's Short memory - The Opinion of Two Lawyers Concerning the Same Gentleman - The History of Leonora, or the Unfortunate Jilt - A Dreadful Quarrel which Happened at the Inn - Conclusion of the Unfortunate Jilt - A Very Short Chapter in which Parson Adams went a Great Way - A Notable Dissertation by Mr. Abraham Adams - In Which the Gentleman Discants on Bravery - Giving an Account of the Strange Catastrophe preceding - What happened to them While Before the Justice - A Very Delightful Adventure - A Dissertation Concerning High People and Low People - An Interview Between Parson Adams and Parson Trulliber - AnAdventure, the Consequence of a new Instance which parson Adams gave of his Forgetfulness - In Which Mr. Adams gave a much Greater Instance of the Honest simplicity of his Heart, than of his Experience in the Ways of this World - A Dialogue Between Mr. Abraham Adams and his Host - Book III: Matter Prefatory in Praise of Biography - A Night Scene, Wherein Several Wonderful Adventures Befel Adams and his Fellow-Travellers - In Which the Gentleman Realtes the History of his Life - A Description of Mr. Wilson's Way of Living. The Tragical Adventure of the Dod and other Grave Matters - A Disputation on Schools held on the Road - Moral Reflections by Joseph Andrews - A Scene of Rosting, very Nicely Adapted to the Present taste and Times - Which some Readers will think too Short and others too Long - Containing as Surprising and Bloody Adventures as can Be found in this or Perhaps any other Authentic History - A Discourse Between the Poet and the Player - The Exhortations of Parson Adams to his Friend in Affliction - More Adventures which we Hope will Please the reader - A Dialogue Between Mr. Abraham Adams and Mr. Peter Pounce - Book IV: The Arrival of Lady Booby and the rest at Booby-Hall - A Dialogue Between Mr. Abraham Adams and the Lady Booby - What Passed Between the Lady and Lawyer Scout - The Arrival of Mr. Booby and his Lady - Containing Justice Business - Of Which you are Desired to Read no More than you Like - Philosophical Reflections - A Discourse between Mr. Adams, Mrs. Adams, Joseph and Fanny - A Visit which the Polite Lady Booby and Her Polite Friend Paid to the Parson - The History of the Two friends - In Which the History is Continued - Where the Good-Natured Reader will seeSomething which will Give him No Great Pleasure - The History Returns to the Lady Booby - Containing Several Curious Night-Adventures - The Arrival of Gaffar and Gammar Andrews - Being the last, in Which this True History is Brought to a happy Conclusion
