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Henry Fielding (1707–1754)

Forfatter af Tom Jones

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Henry Fielding, 1707 - 1754 A succcessful playwright in his twenties, Henry Fielding turned to the study of law and then to journalism, fiction, and a judgeship after his Historical Register, a political satire on the Walpole government, contributed to the censorship of plays that put him out of vis mere business. As an impoverished member of the upper classes, he knew the country squires and the town nobility; as a successful young playwright, the London jet set; as a judge at the center of London, the city's thieves, swindlers, petty officials, shopkeepers, and vagabonds. As a political journalist (editor-author of The Champion, 1739-1741; The True Patriot, 1745-1746; The Jacobite's Journal, 1747-1748; The Covent-Garden Journal, 1752), he participated in argument and intrigue over everything from London elections to national policy. He knowledgeably attacked and defended a range of politicians, from ward heelers to the Prince of Wales. When Fielding undertook writing prose fiction to ridicule the simple morality of Pamela by Samuel Richardson, he first wrote the hilarious burlesque Shamela (1741). However, he soon found himself considering all the forces working on humans, and in Joseph Andrews (1742) (centering on his invented brother of Pamela), he played with the patterns of Homer, the Bible, and Cervantes to create what he called "a comic epic poem in prose." His preface describing this new art form is one of the major documents in literary criticism of the novel. Jonathan Wild, a fictional rogue biography of a year later, plays heavily with ironic techniques that leave unsettled Fielding's great and recurring theme: the difficulty of uniting goodness, or an outflowing love of others, with prudence in a world where corrupted institutions support divisive pride rather than harmony and self-fulfillment. In his masterpiece Tom Jones (1749), Fielding not only faces this issue persuasively but also shows for the first time the possibility of bringing a whole world into an artistic unity, as his model Homer had done in verse. Fielding develops a coherent and centered sequence of events-something Congreve had done casually on a small scale in Incognita 60 years before. In addition he also relates the plot organically to character and theme, by which he gives us a vision of the archetypal good person (Tom) on a journey toward understanding. Every act by every character in the book reflects the special and typical psychology of that character and the proper moral response. In Tom Jones, Fielding affirms the existence of an order under the surface of chaos. In his last novel, Amelia (1751), which realistically examines the misery of London, he can find nothing reliable except the prudent good heart, and that only if its possessor escapes into the country. Fielding based the title character on his second wife, with whom he was deeply in love. However, ill himself, still saddened by the deaths of his intensely loved first wife and daughter, and depressed by a London magistrate's endless toil against corruption, Fielding saw little hope for goodness in that novel or in his informal Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon (1755). Shortly after traveling to Lisbon for his health, Fielding died at the age of 47, having proved to his contemporaries and successors that the lowly novel was capable of the richest achievements of art. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre
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Serier

Værker af Henry Fielding

Tom Jones (1749) 8,098 eksemplarer
Joseph Andrews and Shamela (1741) 1,502 eksemplarer
Jonathan Wild (1741) 520 eksemplarer
Amelia (1751) 374 eksemplarer
Tom Jones (Norton Critical Editions) (1973) 337 eksemplarer
Anti-Pamela AND Shamela (1741) 102 eksemplarer
Shamela (1741) 91 eksemplarer
100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature - volume 1 (2017) — Bidragyder — 56 eksemplarer
Pamela/Shamela (1980) 52 eksemplarer
The Works of Henry Fielding, Esq. (1900) 36 eksemplarer
Tom Jones [Penguin Readers] (1999) 35 eksemplarer
Joseph Andrews (1/2) (2006) 31 eksemplarer
Amelia (2/2) (1902) 23 eksemplarer
Joseph Andrews (2/2) (2007) 22 eksemplarer
Historical register for the year 1736 and Eurydice hissed (1967) — Forfatter — 20 eksemplarer
Tom Jones [abridged] (1948) 19 eksemplarer
The Grub-Street opera (1963) 18 eksemplarer
Amelia (1/2) (1968) 17 eksemplarer
[unidentified works] (2009) 8 eksemplarer
The Female Husband (2010) 6 eksemplarer
Henry Fielding : Romans (1964) 6 eksemplarer
Miscellanies (1993) 6 eksemplarer
Tom Jones (4/4) — Forfatter — 4 eksemplarer
Vintage Lust: "The Rachel Papers" (2007) 4 eksemplarer
The Lovers Assistant (2010) 4 eksemplarer
Amelia (3/3) (1903) 4 eksemplarer
The Mock Doctor (2004) 3 eksemplarer
Amelia (1/3) (1903) 3 eksemplarer
Amelia (2/3) (1903) 3 eksemplarer
Tom Jones (1/3) (1966) 3 eksemplarer
Tom Jones (3/4) — Forfatter — 3 eksemplarer
Pasquin 3 eksemplarer
Tom Jones (2/3) — Forfatter — 2 eksemplarer
Tom Jones (3/3) — Forfatter — 2 eksemplarer
The wedding-day 2 eksemplarer
Tom Jones 2 Cilt Takim 2 eksemplarer
Farsy 2 eksemplarer
Rape Upon Rape (2019) 2 eksemplarer
Tom Jones Vol II 1 eksemplar
Tom Jones vol. 1 1 eksemplar
The Grub Street Opera (1968) 1 eksemplar
Tom Jones, Vol 2 1 eksemplar
Hry, Jonathan Wild 1 eksemplar
Everyman's library 1 eksemplar
Tom Jones (2/4) — Forfatter — 1 eksemplar
Tom Jones (1/4) — Forfatter — 1 eksemplar
The Modern Husband (2004) 1 eksemplar
Izbrannye sochineniia (1989) 1 eksemplar
The Intriguing Chambermaid (2019) 1 eksemplar
South Wind 1 eksemplar
The Works (2016) 1 eksemplar
Amelia. Vol I (2008) 1 eksemplar
Shamela Andrews 1 eksemplar
Miscellanies and poems (1872) 1 eksemplar
Фарсы 1 eksemplar

Associated Works

Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books (1909) — Bidragyder — 516 eksemplarer
English Poetry, Volume II: From Collins to Fitzgerald (1910) — Bidragyder — 491 eksemplarer
Eighteenth-Century English Literature (1969) — Forfatter — 186 eksemplarer
Eighteenth-Century Plays (1952) — Bidragyder — 151 eksemplarer
The Adventures of David Simple (1744) — Preface, nogle udgaver141 eksemplarer
British Dramatists from Dryden to Sheridan (1939) — Bidragyder, nogle udgaver91 eksemplarer
Tom Jones [1963 film] (1963) — Original book — 63 eksemplarer
Eighteenth Century Plays (1928) — Bidragyder — 62 eksemplarer
Modern Arthurian Literature (1992) — Bidragyder — 31 eksemplarer
A Skeleton At the Helm (2008) — Bidragyder — 27 eksemplarer
Eighteenth Century Women: An Anthology (1984) — Bidragyder — 23 eksemplarer
Lock Up Your Daughters, Acting Edition (1967) — Original book — 15 eksemplarer
Law in Action: An Anthology of the Law in Literature (1947) — Bidragyder — 13 eksemplarer
Englische Essays aus drei Jahrhunderten (1980) — Bidragyder — 10 eksemplarer
Great Love Scenes from Famous Novels (1943) — Bidragyder — 5 eksemplarer
Famous Stories of Five Centuries (1934) — Bidragyder — 4 eksemplarer
Joseph Andrews [1977 film] (2003) — Original book — 3 eksemplarer
Satire, burlesque, protest, and ridicule II (1974) — Bidragyder — 1 eksemplar
Political operas I: Satire and allegory (1974) — Bidragyder — 1 eksemplar
The medical and legal professions [ballad operas] (1974) — Bidragyder — 1 eksemplar
Farce: amorous intrigue and deception I (1975) — Bidragyder — 1 eksemplar

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Folio Archives 297: Tom Jones by Henry Fielding 2008 i Folio Society Devotees (november 2022)

Anmeldelser

A domestic novel from the earliest days of the English novel written in 1749 and in two volumes. A series of difficulties besets the marriage of Amelia and Billy Booth, mostly as a result of the husband's impetuousness and difficulties in saying "No". Amelia, on the other hand, is irreproachable in her patience, love, faith in, and sense of right and wrong with her rather tiresomely gormless spouse.
This is a novel that doesn't flag because it is full of incident and crises. Fielding acknowledges female good sense and courage in the face of the trials the family is faced with, largely a result of Billy's gambling, borrowing and inability to face up to responsibilities.
One has to say "Thank goodness for a well regulated banking system". Billy's problems would have been much eased if it were not for unscrupulous borrowing from so-called friends.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
ivanfranko | 4 andre anmeldelser | Dec 31, 2023 |
Schon als ich das Buch zum ersten Mal las, fand ich es witzig, dass sich der Autor so oft an mich als Leserin wendet, und ich fragte mich, ob er sich wirklich eine Leserin wie mich, mehr als 200 Jahre nach dem Erscheinen des Buches, vorgestellt hatte. Das Buch ist sehr witzig geschrieben und hat einen sehr amüsanten Stil, der unter anderem deshalb so vergnüglich ist, weil der Autor immer wieder den Leser anspricht. Es ist ein dickes Buch über das Findelkind Tom Jones, dem wahrscheinlich alles passiert, was einem Menschen so passieren kann. Er wird als Baby im Bett eines reichen Adligen gefunden, was ich ein sehr seltsames Setting fand. An diesem Landsitz wird er wie ein Sohn aufgezogen, natürlich wird er zum Opfer von allerhand Intrigen, bis er am Ende glücklich wird. Es ist einer der ersten Romane, die es in der englischen Sprache gab. Und nach all den Jahren kann man ihn immer noch sehr gut lesen.… (mere)
 
Markeret
Wassilissa | 96 andre anmeldelser | Oct 18, 2023 |
"It is much easier to make good men wise, than to make bad men good."

The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, as the title suggest is about the life of Tom Jones, the main character, and in truth it is an early rom-com. As a baby, Tom Jones was left to the care of Squire Allworthy, a prominent and wealthy landowner in Somerset. Despite his inauspicious start in life Tom was raised by the Squire and his sister, Bridget, as though he was part of their family.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Blifil begins courting Bridget and eventually, they are married and have a son, William. The novel highlights the contrasting personas of Tom and William Blifil. On one hand, Tom is crude and unrefined but has a heart of gold, whereas Blifil is cultured but is greedy and calculating. Bilfil tries to discredit Tom's with the latter's love interest, Sophia Western and marry her himself but is only interested in the fortune that she would bring to any marriage.

The novel is also packed with minor characters who explore different human virtues: kindness and wickedness, greed and honesty, justice and injustice. There are the good Samaritans, bullies, shady characters, the greedy and the generous, loyal and disloyal, promiscuous women and gossip mongers. Throughout, there is Tom, who is both perfect and flawed at the same time. The novel also explores the position of women in 18th-century Britain and their general lack of power.

Despite its length it has a very straightforward plot. The novel is divided into 18 smaller books, with each book having an introductory chapter, as well as commentaries scattered throughout the book. Although the truth and mystery shrouding Tom's birth was promised early on in the novel it isn't revealed until its climax and it took me totally by surprise. The ending has the feel of fairy tale to it because “they all lived happily ever after.”

Overall, 'Tom Jones' is a lengthy but relatively light read. It is straightforward and easier to understand than some classics and made me smile at times. I particularly liked Squire Western's character whom I found rather comical however, I also found it a little repetitive at times, hence my rating, but I'm glad that I've finally read it.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
PilgrimJess | 96 andre anmeldelser | Aug 30, 2023 |
Aivan uskomattoman hienoa kieltä, kirjailijalla ja suomentajalla on koko ajan pilke silmäkulmassa, mutta huumori on niin hienovaraista ja tyylikästä etten keksi toista yhtä hyvin tehtyä opusta. Juonikin on ihan hyvä, joten kirjasta tuli kyllä yksi kaikkien aikojen suosikeistani! Täydellistä!
 
Markeret
KirjaJussi | 96 andre anmeldelser | Jul 21, 2023 |

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Virginia Woolf Contributor
Aldous Huxley Contributor
Homer Contributor
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Henry James Contributor
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Leo Tolstoy Contributor
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Charlotte Brontë Contributor
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George Whitefield Contributor
Voltaire Contributor
David Hume Contributor
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Adam Smith Contributor
Samuel Johnson Contributor
John Toland Contributor
Joseph Butler Contributor
Kenneth Hopkins Introduction (Tom Jones), Introduction
Frank Martin Illustrator (Jonathan Wild)
Martin Horder Introduction (Amelia)
Simon Brett Cover Designer (all); Illustrator (Amelia)
Derrick Harris Illustrator (Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones)
Harry Diamond Illustrator
Justin Rainey Activities by
James Butler Adapted by
Claude Rawson Introduction
Tom Keymer Editor, Introduction
Warren Chappell Illustrator
Edward Gorey Cover designer
Fritz Göttler Afterword
Pina Sergi Translator
Siegfried Lang Translator
Hubert Gravelot Illustrator
Frank Kermode Afterword
T. M. Cleland Illustrator
Louis Kronenberger Introduction
Ralph H. Singleton Introduction
Marja Alopaeus Translator
Maynard Mack Introduction
Rufus Sewell Narrator
J. H. Plumb Foreword
Hugh Amory Editor
Daniela Fink Translator
George Cruikshank Cover artist
A. R. Humphreys Introduction
John M. Bullitt Introduction

Statistikker

Værker
264
Also by
28
Medlemmer
14,454
Popularitet
#1,586
Vurdering
½ 3.7
Anmeldelser
176
ISBN
755
Sprog
22
Udvalgt
36

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