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'True Use of Reading': Sarah Fielding and Mid Eighteenth-Century

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'True Use of Reading': Sarah Fielding and Mid Eighteenth-Century The 'True Use of Reading': Sarah Fielding and Mid Eighteenth-Century Literary Strategies MIKA SUZUKI Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen Mary and Westfield College University of London 1998 1 [LONDON) Abstract The aim of this thesis is to explore, by examining her life and works, how Sarah Fielding (1710-68) establishedher identity as an author. The definition of her role involves her notions of the functions of writing and reading. Sarah Fielding attempts to invite readers to form a sense of ties by tacit understanding of her messages. As she believes that a work of literature is produced through collaboration between the writer and the reader, it is an important task in her view to show her attentiveness toward reading practice. In her consideration of reading, she has two distinct, even opposite views of her audience: on the one hand a familiar and limited circle of readers with shared moral and cultural values and on the other potential readers among the unknown mass of people. The dual targets direct her to devise various strategies. She tries to appeal to those who can endorse and appreciate her moral values as well as her learning. Her writings and letters testify that she is sensitive to the demands of the literary market, trying to lead the taste of readers by inventing new forms. The thesis opens with an overview of Sarah Fielding's career, followed by a consideration of her critical attention to the roles of reading. I go on to examine the narrative structures and strategies she deploys, with a particular emphasis on her use of the epistolary method. The following chapter deals with her attention to the reading of the moral message tangibly embodied in her educational writing. It is followed by an analysis of the activity which earned her a reputation as a learned woman. Various as the forms of her works are, they invariably reflect her attempt to balance herself between the two demands of inventiveness and familiarity. 2 ThBLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 7 Chapter One 'Introducing the Author to the Acquaintance of the Reader' 40 Chapter Two Narrative Structure and Satirical Point of View 98 Chapter Three Letters and Epistolary Method 157 Chapter Four The Little Female Academy and the Governess 205 Chapter Five Sarah Fielding and Classical Learning 254 Conclusion 310 Bibliography 322 3 Acknowledgements I am grateful to those who have offered their assistance, suggestions, and support through the preparation of this thesis. In particular, my whole-hearted thanks go to my supervisor, Christopher Reid. I appreciate his encouragement. He has been generous in helping me to develop arguments and always patient with my awkward English. Among others, Linda Bree, Warren Chernaik, Markman Ellis, and Judith Hawley helped me a great deal t'flitheir suggestions and helpful advice. I wish to thank Isobel Grundy for her encouragement. Her extensive and profound knowledge has helped me greatly. The topic of this thesis, Sarah Fielding, was one of the authors she led me to read for tutorials when I attended the M course. Even after she left QMW, she kindly gave me her comments and constructive criticisms. I will always remain most grateful to my parents, Yoshinobu and Yukari Miki, and the parents of my husband, Isamu and Keiko Suzuki, for their loving support. I wish to thank my husband, Akihito Suzuki. He has always been the first listener of my arguments throughout my research. His suggestions and criticism helped me to materialise into arguments what I vaguely thought of. His unfailing involvement made the work of writing this thesis a pleasant thing. Without his support, patience, and love, this thesis would never exist. Finally, I wish to thank Kanako, who has come to let me work with smil and patience. 4 List of Abbreviations Cleoratra and Octavia The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable David SimDle The Adventures of David Simole; Containing an Account of his Travels Throuah the Cities of London and Westminster. in the Search of a Real Friend Dellwvn The History of the Countess of Deliwyn Familiar Letters Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters in David Simole. and Some Others. to which is added A Vision Governess The Governess: or. Little Female Acadejy Being The History of Mrs. Teachum. and Her Nine Girls. With Their Nine Days Amusement. Calculated For the entertainment and Instruction of young Ladies in their Education Oohelia The History of Ophelia Remarks on Clarissa Remarks on Clarissa. Addressed to the Author. Occasioned by some critical conversations on the Characters and Conduct of that Work with Some Reflections on the Character and Behaviour of Prior's EA 5 To Akihito INTRODUCTION This dissertation attempts to synthesize analyses of Sarah Fielding's life, her works, her literary career, and the mid-eighteenth century literary milieu. Her perception of a readership provides a key perspective. Her attention to the roles of the writer and the reader is prominent in her works and she is particularly specific about the function which her work is to fulfil in order to act on her reader. I assume that her concern about readership was strongly influenced by intellectual and practical circumstances: her purposes in her writings and strategies in appealing to readers are significantly related to her financial situation, her scholarly propensities, and her moderately detached position in society. Her reading was quite extensive and she made conspicuous use of her reading to create her works. So tPc-i. various influences on her will be helpful in dçcerii her achievements in context. Among the forces of influence, her personal connection with Henry Fielding (1707-54) and Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) has overshadowed and marginalized her own literary achievements. One of my aims is to provide a fuller picture of Sarah Fielding than the one half-concealed by the two canonical figures. It is true that these connections were important to her in literary as well as practical aspects; in literary terms she admired both novelists and accepted their advice on styles and plots; in practical relationships she most probably made the acquaintance with Andrew Millar (1707-68), a publisher, through Henry; Samuel Richardson, as a printer and a distributor of books, helped her in the process of getting her work printed and in selling her books. 1 The importance of 1. Sarah Fielding is said to have been Henry's favourite sister and Battestin even suggests a shadow of incest between Henry and Sarah. See 7 these connections was overemphasized when she began to draw scholars' attention in the earlier half of this century. 2 This approach often brought about negative criticism accusing her of 'her wrong approach to the art of fiction', with a few good marks for the good techniques in her writing attributed to the influences of Henry Fielding or Samuel Richardson . M. C. Battestin, 'Henry Fielding, Sarah Fielding, and the Dreadful Sin of Incest', Novel 13(1979): 6-18; Martin C. Battestin and Ruthe R. Battestin, Henry Fielding : A Life (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 27-30, 32. Richardson printed her Governess, Cleonatra and Octavia, and Countess of Dellwvn. Eaves and Kimpel describe her relationship with Richardson as follows: 'Richardson's connection with Henry Fielding's sister [Sarah] and friends was fairly close for a brief period, and he never quarrelled with them, but they were not among his closest intimates' (p. 204) - See T.C. Duncan Eaves and Ben D. Kimpel, Samuel Richardson: A Biography (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), pp. 202-04. For the two men's rivalry and Sarah Fielding's possible intermediary position, see Alan D. McKillop, 'The Personal Relations between Fielding and Richardson', Modern Philoloay 28(1931): 423-33; idem, Samuel Richardson: Printer and Novelist (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1936), pp. 78, 166. For a simplified view of the two men's different attitudes towards women, the one based on male protection and the other on more sympathetic encouragement, see Katharine M. Rogers, 'Sensitive Feminism vs. Conventional Sympathy: Richardson and Fielding on Women', Novel 9(1976): 256-70; and for a modified view, see Anthony J. Hassall, 'Critical Exchange; Women in Richardson and Fielding', Novel 14 (1981): 168-174. 2. E.A. Baker, as early as at the beginning of this century, even remarks that: 'It is possible that The Adventures of David Simple would have been far better known as a work of some importance in the early development of English fiction had the authoress' name not been Fielding.' See the introduction to Sarah Fielding's The Adventures of David Simnie (London: George Routledge & Sons, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1904), V. Arnold Edwin Needham, 'The Life and Works of Sarah Fielding', Universityof California, Ph.D. 1942, p.5; see alsop. 65. In the first half of this century, valuable studies of Sarah Fielding appeared, though they tended to be critical of Sarah Fielding's fictional technique. Needham finds solid consistency in Sarah Fielding's choice of a theme -- he regards the conflict between benevolence (Shaftesburian) and egoism (Hobbesian) as her central argument, while he finds fault with her fictionalization. Werner carefully collected reviews and compiled in his appendix an index to literary references in her works as well as considering questions of attribution and collaboration. Werner is doubtful about Sarah Fielding's talents as a novelist, finding particular fault in her use of inset stories, her supposed lack of originality, and her unconvincing plots and characters. See Herman 8 A.M. Parrish discerningly criticises the earlier scholars for occupying themselves in discovering 'a patchwork of influence' on her, and for using anachronistic criteria borrowed from later novels.
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