18Th & 19th Century British Prose Henry Fielding

There are probably two personalities that epitomize the 18th century novel -- Henry Fielding and Samuel Richardson. Fielding is remarkable his attitude on the novel differed so greatly from Richardson's. Whereas Richardson's novel attempts to promote public morality through the depiction of archetypally virtusous and villainous men and women, Fielding portrays a world of mixed morality, in which right and wrong are not always clear. Where Richardson is sober, Fielding is cavalier and hilarious. Fielding's most noteworthy books are Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones. For the GRE exam, you will likely need to recognize Tom Jones and possibly know something about the public differences between Fielding and Richardson.

Shamela and Joseph Andrews

From a literary point of view, by far the most important new means of earning a living that Fielding explored after he was effectively barred from the stage was the writing of prose fiction. He moved in this direction, revealing a unique and inimitable, genre-enhancing range of talents in the process, more gradually than he had in taking on the law and journalism and initially in a negatively parodic way, stimulated by his disapproval of the moral and social implications of Richardson's Pamela or Virtue Rewarded (1740) and its critical and clerical over-praising. An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews, In which, the many notorious Falsehoods and Misrepresentations of a Book called “Pamela”, are exposed and refuted (2 April 1741) is a minor masterpiece of ironization that its author never acknowledged. In it Fielding turns Pamela into Shamela, whose amoral manipulation of Mr. B[ooby] into marriage and cuckoldry are revealed in her ”actual,” semi-literate letters, which are sent by a sensible clergyman to one of the clerical fools who moved in part by its pornographic tendencies, had cried “Pamela” up as an ultimate guide to morality. His first novel, The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, begins with a transgendering of Pamela's resistance to seduction, in which high comedy is made out of Joseph Andrews' resistance to losing his virginity out of wedlock. Joseph is thought to be the servant-class-brother of Pamela, who, when we finally meet her, has become Mrs. Booby and a snobbish parvenu.

The title for Pamela comes from Sidney’s Arcadia.

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Tom Jones is a long book which is difficult to summarize.  The title character, a handsome, brave, generous young man of uncertain parentage and hearty appetites, remains faithful to his beloved in spirit, if not in flesh. The combination of vice and virtue in a fully realized, three-dimensional hero was unusual in English literature of its day. Throughout the lengthy book, the author openly mocks the moral rigidity of fashionable writers and critics while simultaneously acknowledging the frailties of his characters and celebrating their good natures.

Some of the characters include: Tom Jones Sophia Western Blifil Squire Allworthy Lady Bridget

The famous opening words, which have been known to appear on the GRE:

The introduction to the work, or bill of fare to the feast. An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money. In the former case, it is well known that the entertainer provides what fare he pleases; and though this should be very indifferent, and utterly disagreeable to the taste of his company, they must not find any fault; nay, on the contrary, good breeding forces them outwardly to approve and to commend whatever is set before them. Now the contrary of this happens to the master of an ordinary. Men who pay for what they eat will insist on gratifying their palates, however nice and whimsical these may prove; and if everything is not agreeable to their taste, will challenge a right to censure, to abuse, and to d--n their dinner without controul.