The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling

by Henry Fielding

Overview

Part Two Of Two Parts

The 1700s were unique and colorful, even to those living during that century -- more violent, energetic and creative than earlier centuries.

It was an era that fit Tom Jones, one of nature's heroes, to a tee. He had great appeal, mixing kindness, warmth and generosity with high spirits and impulsiveness, the results of which led him into social predicaments and moral dilemmas. Tom's adventures, first in one part of England, then in another, give us a vivid picture of that country in the mid-18th century, and also entertains us along the way.

"Puts us in close companionship with of the most generous and vigorous spirits in English literature, as well as one of the wisest and wittiest." (Elizabeth Drew, author of The Novel)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9791221367249
Publisher:	Memorable Classics eBooks
Publication date:	06/02/2022
Sold by:	StreetLib SRL
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) began his career as a novelist in 1740 with Shamela (written as a negative response to Richardson's Pamela). The following year, he published Joseph Andrews, with which he anticipates his masterpiece, Tom Jones. His final work, The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, was published posthumously in 1755. Thomas Keymer is Elmore Fellow and Tutor in English at St Anne's College, Oxford. His books include Sterne, the Moderns, and the Novel (2002), and co-edited with John Mee, The Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1740-1830 (2004).

Alice Wakely completed a doctoral dissertation on Samuel Richardson at Magdalen College, Oxford, and is currently at the University of York.

Thomas Keymer is Elmore Fellow and Tutor in English at St Anne's College, Oxford. His books include Richardson's Clarissa and the 18th Century Reader (1992), Sterne, the Moderns, and the Novel (2002), and co-edited with John Mee, The Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1740-1830 (2004). Alice Wakely completed a doctoral dissertation on Samuel Richardson at Magdalen College, Oxford and is currently at the University of York. The editors have previously collaborated on the OUP World's Classics edition of Richardson's Pamela (2001).

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling: Dedication
Contents
Text
Appendices: Chronology of Important Dates
Select Bibliography
Index to Corrections
The Geography of Tom Jones (map)

What People are Saying About This

George Sherburn

Not the serious moral intention of the author, nor even the superb fusion of all elements, can fully account for the pleasure intelligent readers have found for two hundred years in reading Tom Jones. One must recognize as a supreme aid to the success of the book the fact that it is composed with confident directness and precision, and especially that it is written in healthy high spirits—that Fielding keenly enjoyed writing it.

Edward Gibbon

The successors of Charles the Fifth may disdain their brethren of England; but the romance of Tom Jones, that exquisite picture of human manners, will outlive the palace of the Escurial and the imperial eagle of the house of Austria.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Upon my word, I think Tom Jones is one of the most perfect plots ever planned.

Editorial Reviews

"Perhaps all we have a right to expect from a conscientious editor is a well-written rehash of what others have already said. But this is not all that we are here given . . . Professor] Battestin can repeatedly correct the record by drawing upon the work of modern scholars... His commentary, which he supplies as notes to the text, necessarily tells us much that is well known to the specialist, but often corrects what previous editors have said and not infrequently clarifies what has never before been annotated... It is surprising that so much fresh information has been assembled for a book as well known as this."—Fredercik W. Hilles, The Yale Review

"Brave men lived before Agamemnon; and there were editions of Fielding, of a sort, before Wesleyan series began. But every previous collection is now totally supplanted . . ."—British Society for 18th Century Studies Newsletter

"Perhaps all we have a right to expect from a conscientious editor is a well-written rehash of what others have already said. But this is not all that we are here given . . . Professor] Battestin can repeatedly correct the record by drawing upon the work of modern scholars His commentary, which he supplies as notes to the text, necessarily tells us much that is well known to the specialist, but often corrects what previous editors have said and not infrequently clarifies what has never before been annotated It is surprising that so much fresh information has been assembled for a book as well known as this."—Fredercik W. Hilles, The Yale Review

"This edition offers a critical unmodernized text of Tom Jones. The text is critical in that it has been established by application of analytical criticism to the evidence of the various documentary forms in which the novel has appeared. It is unmodernized in that every effort has been made to present the text in as close a form to Fielding's own inscription and final revision as the surviving documents permit, subject only to normal editorial regulations."—The Textual Introduction

From the Publisher