The Vicar of Wakefield

by Oliver Goldsmith, Arthur Friedman (Editor), Robert L. Mack (Editor)

Overview

'He loved all mankind; for fortune prevented him from knowing there were rascals.' Oliver Goldsmith's hugely successful novel of 1766 remained for generations one of the most highly regarded and beloved works of eighteenth-century fiction. It depicts the fall and rise of the Primrose family, presided over by the benevolent vicar, the narrator of a fairy-tale plot of impersonation and deception, the abduction of a beautiful heroine and the machinations of an aristocratic villain. By turns comic and sentimental, the novel's popularity owes much to its recognizable depiction of domestic life and loving family relationships. Regarded by some as a straightforward and well-intentioned novel of sentiment, and by others as a satire on the very literary conventions and morality it seems to embody, The Vicar of Wakefield contains, in the figure of the vicar himself, one of the most harmlessly simply and unsophisticated yet also ironically complex narrators ever to appear in English fiction. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191604713
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	05/11/2006
Series:	Oxford World's Classics Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Robert L. Mack has edited a number of volumes for Oxford World's Classics, including Burney's The Wanderer, Oriental Tales, and Arabian Nights' Entertainments. He has also edited Thomas Gray's poetry and Goldsmith's poetry for Everyman, and written a biography of Thomas Gray (Yale, 2000).

Table of Contents

1.	The description of the family of Wakefield; in which a kindred likeness prevails as well of minds as of persons	1
2.	Family misfortunes. The loss of fortune only serves to encrease the pride of the worthy	3
3.	A migration. The fortunate circumstances of our lives are generally found at last to be of our own procuring	6
4.	A proof that even the humblest fortune may grant happiness, which depends not on circumstance, but constitution	11
5.	A new and great acquaintance introduced. What we place most hopes upon generally proves most fatal	13
6.	The happiness of a country fire-side	16
7.	A town wit described. The dullest fellows may learn to be comical for a night or two	18
8.	An amour, which promises little good fortune, yet may be productive of much	21
9.	Two ladies of great distinction introduced. Superior finery ever seems to confer superior breeding	27
10.	The family endeavours to cope with their betters. The miseries of the poor when they attempt to appear above their circumstances	29
11.	The family still resolve to hold up their heads	32
12.	Fortune seems resolved to humble the family of Wakefield. Mortifications are often more painful than real calamities	35
13.	Mr. Burchell is found to be an enemy; for he has the confidence to give disagreeable advice	39
14.	Fresh mortifications, or a demonstration that seeming calamities may be real blessings	41
15.	All Mr. Burchell's villainy at once detected. The folly of being over-wise	45
16.	The family use art, which is opposed with still greater	49
17.	Scarce any virtue found to resist the power of long and pleasing temptation	52
18.	The pursuit of a father to reclaim a lost child to virtue	58
19.	The description of a person discontented with the present government, and apprehensive of the loss of our liberties	61
20.	The history of a philosophic vagabond, pursuing novelty, but losing content	67
21.	The short continuance of friendship amongst the vicious, which is coeval only with mutual satisfaction	76
22.	Offences are easily pardoned where there is love at bottom	82
23.	None but the guilty can be long and completely miserable	85
24.	Fresh calamities	88
25.	No situation, however wretched it seems, but has some sort of comfort attending it	91
26.	A reformation in the gaol. To make laws complete, they should reward as well as punish	94
27.	The same subject continued	97
28.	Happiness and misery rather the result of prudence than of virtue in this life. Temporal evils or felicities being regarded by heaven as things merely in themselves trifling and unworthy its care in the distribution	100
29.	The equal dealings of providence demonstrated with regard to the happy and the miserable here below. That from the nature of pleasure and pain, the wretched must be repaid the balance of their sufferings in the life hereafter	107
30.	Happier prospects begin to appear. Let us be inflexible, and fortune will at last change in our favour	110
31.	Former benevolence now repaid with unexpected interest	115
32.	The Conclusion	125

Editorial Reviews

Patrick Tull has again created a masterpiece, a cameo performance. His vicar, Mr. Primrose, calls to mind the robust, periwig-pated fellow” of an earlier age as we watch him endure the total collapse of his once tranquil world. Everything short of boils befalls the hapless Mr. Primrose, but his resolve is never shaken. Patrick Tull’s voice, expressive and energized with latent excitement, creates anticipation as listeners bemoan Mr. Primrose and family’s parade of tumbling fortunes and rejoice at their restoration. The result is one of the oldest comic novels in English presented to the reader shining with fresh, new varnish. P.E.F. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine

MAR 97 - AudioFile