DOCSLIB.ORG

University Microfilms International 300 N

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
University Microfilms International 300 N HENRY FIELDING'S ARISTOPHANIC COMEDY Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Loveday, Thomas Elliot Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 05/10/2021 18:25:42 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/298506 INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark it is an indication that the film inspector noticed either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, or duplicate copy. Unless we meant to delete copyrighted materials that should not have been filmed, you will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., is part of the material being photo­ graphed the photographer has followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin filming at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. If necessary, sectioning is continued again—beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. For any illustrations that cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by xerography, photographic prints can be purchased at additional cost and tipped into your xerographic copy. Requests can be made to our Dissertations Customer Services Department. 5. Some pages in any document may have indistinct print. In all cases we have filmed the best available copy. University Microfilms International 300 N. ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1R 4EJ, ENGLAND 7918258 LOVEDAY, THOMAS ELLIOT HENRY FIELDING'S ARISTOPHANIC COMEDY. THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, PH.D., 1979 University Microfilms International 300 N. ZEEB ROAD, ANN ARBOR, MI 48IOE HENRY FIELDING'S ARISTOPHANIC COMEDY by Thomas Elliot Loveday A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 7 9 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Thomas Elliot Loveday entitled Henry Fielding's Aristophanic Comedy be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy c 6 ; X / / 'J 77 Dissertation ipirector Date As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read this dissertation and agree that it may be presented for final defense. tj.]?i £ Pvl'CS)'> 1 0 Date i ,/<- 1- C-,^4 A r- r- K , <7 's K //)-'( /] i J f Date i j / t ^«•j v. <<•' '/--y (. (' Cti' -Pi £ /JU ic ,v /1 7( f}/7, / |. / - Date tlU U/sc't MA ,T/i /9y? Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense thereof at the final oral examination. 11/78 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my patient and loving family for their support and encouragement during the many years of this project. Several professors have helped me, especially Dr. J. Douglas Canfield, who diligently corrected my writing and offered many helpful suggestions; and Dr. Gerald M. McNiece, whose enthusiasm and devotion to litera­ ture are irresistibly contagious. I never would have finished without these fine people. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT V CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. DRAMATIC SATIRE 24 3. CHARACTERIZATION 74 4. PLOT STRUCTURE 104 5. ABUSE OF LANGUAGE 136 6. CONCLUSION . 155 REFERENCES 168 iv ABSTRACT Henry Fielding's dramatic satires show strong similarity to the comedies of Aristophanes. Both play­ wrights believe that the universe is ordered and that man should order his society to reflect that ultimate order. They believe that personal greed and ambition fragment society, and their plays reaffirm social unity and common interest. They write dramatic satire to chastise those people who subvert society's welfare and to correct those who misuse society's institutions. Eight of Fielding's best plays--The Author's Farce, Tom Thumb, The Tragedy of Tragedies, Don Quixote, Pasquin, The Historical Register for the Year 1736, Eurydice, and Eurydice Hissed—span his dramatic career and can be called "Aristophanic"; they ignore the romantic interest and the consequent circumvention of blocking characters by young lovers or their witty servants so typical of the New Comedy of Plautus, Terence, Shakespeare, and the Restoration. They are dramatic satire, with the emphasis on satire. Several times during his career, Fielding mentions his admiration of Aristophanes, and, in 1742, he translated and edited Aristophanes' Plutus. The main purpose of Old Comedy is social improve­ ment, not entertainment. The satire attacks popular v literary and political figures, ridiculing wrong action and recommending right. As Aristophanes criticizes Euripides and Cleon, so Fielding criticizes Colley Cibber and Robert Walpole for their abuses of public trust in the theater and in government. Both playwrights create single-trait characters, sometimes caricatures of real people, and both use per­ sonified abstractions to develop the satire rather than develop believable personalities. Both concentrate on correcting the relationships of individuals to public institutions, for these institutions—literature, politics, law, medicine, and religion--should hold society together. Personal and general welfare depend upon them. Fielding and Aristophanes use onstage choruses to guide the audience response to the stage action, and these onstage auditors often interrupt the flow of action for the sake of clarifying and sharpening the satire. The episodic plots of the plays allegorically present people and situa­ tions, humorously exaggerated, which the audience recog­ nizes as serious topical allusions. A prime target of their satire is the abuse of language by politicians, literary figures, and professional men. Both playwrights attack those who use language to achieve interests which neither reflect the truth nor promote social harmony. For both, language should reflect factual truth and the profound reality of universal order. vii Both use a stage-equals-state metaphor to impress the audience that the stage presentation relates directly to their real life experience; the audience is jarred from the passive acceptance of amusement to the active role of social criticism. Seeing Fielding's plays in the Aristophanic tradi­ tion helps us to appreciate the deep belief in Providence which his plays and novels reveal. Fielding's narrative voices in the novels are related to the choral voices of Aristophanes. Although in his later years Fielding criti­ cized Aristophanes' bawdry, his dramatic satire of the 1730's and his edition of Aristophanes' Plutus demonstrate his admiration of and indebtedness to the Greek master. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Students of English literature occasionally note in their books about Henry Fielding that he has qualities reminiscent of Aristophanes, and classical scholars mention Henry Fielding in their books about Aristophanes. 2 Yet no one demonstrates the direct influence of Aristophanes upon Henry Fielding's play. Fielding acknowledged his indebted­ ness to the Greek master of comedy and expressed his admira- tion for him at the same time that he was writing his plays. 3 1. Arther Murphy, "An Essay on the Life of Henry Fielding," The Works of Henry Fielding, Esq. (London: A. Millar, 1762), rpt. in The Lives of Henry Fielding and Samuel Johnson, ed. Matthew Grace (Gainesville, Florida: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1968), p. 12. See also Wilbur Cross, The History of Henry Fielding, 3 vols. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1918), I, 83, 85, 225; Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel (Berkeley: University of Cali­ fornia Press, 1957), p. 284; and Henry Fielding, The Historical Register for the Year 1736 and Eurydice Hissed, ed. William W. Appleton, Regents Restoration Drama Series (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967), p. xi. 2. K. J. Dover, Aristophanic Comedy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p. 73; and Alexis Solomos, The Living Aristophanes, trans. Alexis Solomos and Marvin Felheim (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1974), p. 262. The former is hereafter cited in the text as "Dover." 3. In the Prologue to The Coffee-House Politician and in the Dedication to Don Quixote in England, Henry Fielding, The Complete Works of Henry Fielding, ed.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Henry Fielding Joseph Andrews
    HENRY FIELDING JOSEPH ANDREWS VOLUME I 2008 – All rights reserved Non commercial use permitted THE WORKS OF HENRY FIELDING EDITED BY GEORGE SAINTSBURY IN TWELVE VOLUMES VOL. I. JOSEPH ANDREWS VOL. I. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. PREFACE. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. _Of writing lives in general, and particularly of Pamela, with a word by the bye of Colley Cibber and others_ CHAPTER II. _Of Mr Joseph Andrews, his birth, parentage, education, and great endowments, with a word or two concerning ancestors_ CHAPTER III. _Of Mr Abraham Adams the curate, Mrs Slipslop the chambermaid, and others_ CHAPTER IV. _What happened after their journey to London_ CHAPTER V. _The death of Sir Thomas Booby, with the affectionate and mournful behaviour of his widow, and the great purity of Joseph Andrews_ CHAPTER VI. _How Joseph Andrews writ a letter to his sister Pamela_ CHAPTER VII. _Sayings of wise men. A dialogue between the lady and her maid; and a panegyric, or rather satire, on the passion of love, in the sublime style_ CHAPTER VIII. _In which, after some very fine writing, the history goes on, and relates the interview between the lady and Joseph; where the latter hath set an example which we despair of seeing followed by his sex in this vicious age_ CHAPTER IX. _What passed between the lady and Mrs Slipslop; in which we prophesy there are some strokes which every one will not truly comprehend at the first reading_ CHAPTER X. _Joseph writes another letter; his transactions with Mr Peter Pounce, &c., with his departure from Lady Booby_ CHAPTER XI. _Of several new matters not expected_ CHAPTER XII.
    [Show full text]
  • Shearer West Phd Thesis Vol 1
    THE THEATRICAL PORTRAIT IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LONDON (VOL. I) Shearer West A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St. Andrews 1986 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2982 This item is protected by original copyright THE THEATRICAL PORTRAIT IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LONDON Ph.D. Thesis St. Andrews University Shearer West VOLUME 1 TEXT In submitting this thesis to the University of St. Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the I work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker. ABSTRACT A theatrical portrait is an image of an actor or actors in character. This genre was widespread in eighteenth century London and was practised by a large number of painters and engravers of all levels of ability. The sources of the genre lay in a number of diverse styles of art, including the court portraits of Lely and Kneller and the fetes galantes of Watteau and Mercier. Three types of media for theatrical portraits were particularly prevalent in London, between ca745 and 1800 : painting, print and book illustration.
    [Show full text]
  • SOURCE01.Pdf
    EPIC AND MOCK EPIC IN ENGLAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES J.S. RYAN Department of English University of New England Armidale , N S .14 1981 1981 Copyright is reserved to J.S. Ryan and Department of English, University of New England Printed by the University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales. CONTENTS Greek Epic 1 Epos 1 Aristotle 1 Epic setting 2 Simple action 2 Known story 3 Meaning of epic as critical term 4 Primitive epic 5 Primary epic Non Indo-European epic 6 Dantes L'ivine Comed 6 Secondary epic 7 Aeneid (--and Shaw) 7 Renaissance epic 8 Contemporary theme 9 Relation to the past 10 Style for secondary epic 11 Destiny and conscience 12 Responsibility 12 Classical influences - Milton 13 Satan 14 Like classical deities 15 Adams dilemma 16 Expulsion of Adam and Eve 18 Miltons focus 19 Walter Raleigh on Miltons Style 21 i iv Nimes and Nouns 71 John Dryden 22 Ancients Moderns 23 Nock heroic 24 Drydens mock heroics 24 pics in translation 26 Alexander Pope 26 Fielding and the epic novel 29 Samnel Richardsons Pamela 30 Fieldings classicism 31 The Town and Country 32 Social comedy and dignified picaresque 33 Including history 34 Sequel 34 The last epic poetry in english 35 BiblLography 37 GREEK EPIC Epic poetry, always associated in the mind of Western man the two homeric poems, the Iliad and the OdLissey, is both reckoned as the oldest and also ranked highest of the Greek literary types (being the first listed in Aristotles (2n the Art of Poetm, chap, 1).
    [Show full text]
  • Romeo Revived .Pdf
    McGirr, E. (2017). "What's in a Name?": Romeo and Juliet and the Cibber Brand. Shakespeare. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450918.2017.1406983 Peer reviewed version Link to published version (if available): 10.1080/17450918.2017.1406983 Link to publication record in Explore Bristol Research PDF-document This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Taylor and Francis at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17450918.2017.1406983. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher. University of Bristol - Explore Bristol Research General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/research-policy/pure/user-guides/ebr-terms/ Elaine M. McGirr Reader in Theatre & Performance Histories University of Bristol “What’s in a name?”: Romeo and Juliet and the Cibber brand Abstract: The 1744 and 1748/50 performances of Romeo and Juliet by Theophilus Cibber, Jenny Cibber and Susannah Cibber explain the significance of the play’s return to the repertory, uncover the history of rival interpretations of Juliet’s character, and make sense of the careers and reputations of the theatrical Cibbers. The “Cibberian” airs of all three Cibbers were markedly different, as were their interpretations of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers. Keywords: Shakespearean adaptation, performance history, celebrity, authorial reputation, repertory In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet apostrophizes Romeo to deny thy father and refuse thy name, assuring her (supposedly) absent lover that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
    [Show full text]
  • Handel's Oratorios and the Culture of Sentiment By
    Virtue Rewarded: Handel’s Oratorios and the Culture of Sentiment by Jonathan Rhodes Lee A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Davitt Moroney, Chair Professor Mary Ann Smart Professor Emeritus John H. Roberts Professor George Haggerty, UC Riverside Professor Kevis Goodman Fall 2013 Virtue Rewarded: Handel’s Oratorios and the Culture of Sentiment Copyright 2013 by Jonathan Rhodes Lee ABSTRACT Virtue Rewarded: Handel’s Oratorios and the Culture of Sentiment by Jonathan Rhodes Lee Doctor of Philosophy in Music University of California, Berkeley Professor Davitt Moroney, Chair Throughout the 1740s and early 1750s, Handel produced a dozen dramatic oratorios. These works and the people involved in their creation were part of a widespread culture of sentiment. This term encompasses the philosophers who praised an innate “moral sense,” the novelists who aimed to train morality by reducing audiences to tears, and the playwrights who sought (as Colley Cibber put it) to promote “the Interest and Honour of Virtue.” The oratorio, with its English libretti, moralizing lessons, and music that exerted profound effects on the sensibility of the British public, was the ideal vehicle for writers of sentimental persuasions. My dissertation explores how the pervasive sentimentalism in England, reaching first maturity right when Handel committed himself to the oratorio, influenced his last masterpieces as much as it did other artistic products of the mid- eighteenth century. When searching for relationships between music and sentimentalism, historians have logically started with literary influences, from direct transferences, such as operatic settings of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, to indirect ones, such as the model that the Pamela character served for the Ninas, Cecchinas, and other garden girls of late eighteenth-century opera.
    [Show full text]
  • Weaver, Words, and Dancing in the Judgment of Paris
    On Common Ground 5:Weaver, Dance inWords, Drama, and Drama Dancing in in DanceThe Judgment of Paris DHDS March 2005 Text copyright © Moira Goff and DHDS 2005 Weaver, Words, and Dancing in The Judgment of Paris Moira Goff On 31 January 1733, the Daily Post let its readers know that ‘The Judgment of Paris, which was intended to be perform’d this Night, is deferr’d for a few Days, upon Account of some Alterations in the Machinery’. John Weaver’s new afterpiece, which was to be his last work for the London stage, received its first performance at Drury Lane on 6 February 1733.1 Weaver had not created a serious dance work since his ‘Dramatic Entertainments of Danc- ing’ The Loves of Mars and Venus of 1717 and Orpheus and Eurydice of 1718. When the description for The Judgment of Paris was published to accompany performances, it an- nounced a change from Weaver’s earlier practice by referring to the work as a ‘Dramatic Entertainment in Dancing and Singing’.2 Why did Weaver resort to words? Did he feel that they were necessary to attract audiences and explain the story to them? The Judgment of Paris was performed six times between 6 and 15 February 1733, and then dropped out of the repertoire. On 31 March The Harlot’s Progress; or, The Ridotto Al’Fresco was given its first performance. This afterpiece by Theophilus Cibber, based on the very popular series of paintings and prints by William Hogarth, included a ‘Grand Masque call’d, The Judgment of Paris’.
    [Show full text]
  • Crucibles of Virtue and Vice: the Acculturation of Transatlantic Army Officers, 1815-1945
    CRUCIBLES OF VIRTUE AND VICE: THE ACCULTURATION OF TRANSATLANTIC ARMY OFFICERS, 1815-1945 John F. Morris Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2020 © 2020 John F. Morris All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Crucibles of Virtue and Vice: The Acculturation of Transatlantic Army Officers, 1815-1945 John F. Morris Throughout the long nineteenth century, the European Great Powers and, after 1865, the United States competed for global dominance, and they regularly used their armies to do so. While many historians have commented on the culture of these armies’ officer corps, few have looked to the acculturation process itself that occurred at secondary schools and academies for future officers, and even fewer have compared different formative systems. In this study, I home in on three distinct models of officer acculturation—the British public schools, the monarchical cadet schools in Imperial Germany, Austria, and Russia, and the US Military Academy—which instilled the shared and recursive sets of values and behaviors that constituted European and American officer cultures. Specifically, I examine not the curricula, policies, and structures of the schools but the subterranean practices, rituals, and codes therein. What were they, how and why did they develop and change over time, which values did they transmit and which behaviors did they perpetuate, how do these relate to nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century social and cultural phenomena, and what sort of ethos did they produce among transatlantic army officers? Drawing on a wide array of sources in three languages, including archival material, official publications, letters and memoirs, and contemporary nonfiction and fiction, I have painted a highly detailed picture of subterranean life at the institutions in this study.
    [Show full text]
  • Studies in the Work of Colley Cibber
    BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS HUMANISTIC STUDIES Vol. 1 October 1, 1912 No. 1 STUDIES IN THE WORK OF COLLEY CIBBER BY DE WITT C.:'CROISSANT, PH.D. A ssistant Professor of English Language in the University of Kansas LAWRENCE, OCTOBER. 1912 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY CONTENTS I Notes on Cibber's Plays II Cibber and the Development of Sentimental Comedy Bibliography PREFACE The following studies are extracts from a longer paper on the life and work of Cibber. No extended investigation concerning the life or the literary activity of Cibber has recently appeared, and certain misconceptions concerning his personal character, as well as his importance in the development of English literature and the literary merit of his plays, have been becoming more and more firmly fixed in the minds of students. Cibber was neither so much of a fool nor so great a knave as is generally supposed. The estimate and the judgment of two of his contemporaries, Pope and Dennis, have been far too widely accepted. The only one of the above topics that this paper deals with, otherwise than incidentally, is his place in the development of a literary mode. While Cibber was the most prominent and influential of the innovators among the writers of comedy of his time, he was not the only one who indicated the change toward sentimental comedy in his work. This subject, too, needs fuller investigation. I hope, at some future time, to continue my studies in this field. This work was suggested as a subject for a doctor's thesis, by Professor John Matthews Manly, while I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago a number of years ago, and was con• tinued later under the direction of Professor Thomas Marc Par- rott at Princeton.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry Fielding's Comic Epic in Prose: a Study of Joseph Andrews in the Light
    International Journal of Academic Research and Development International Journal of Academic Research and Development ISSN: 2455-4197 Impact Factor: RJIF 5.22 www.academicsjournal.com Volume 3; Issue 1; January 2018; Page No. 904-906 Henry fielding’s comic epic in prose: A study of Joseph Andrews in the light of this genre Swati Suri Assistant Professor, Shri Guru Gobind Singh College, Chandigarh, Punjab, India Abstract The eighteenth century--"our excellent and indispensable eighteenth century"-is known in the history of English literature particularly for the birth and development of the novel. In this century the novel threw into insignificance all other literary forms and became the dominant form to continue as such for hundreds of years. The pioneers of the novel were Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne. The work of this foursome is of monumental significance, particularly because they were not only our first novelists but some of our best. "Joseph Andrews" published in 1742 is Fielding's first novel. It is a classical example of a literary work which started as a parody and ended as an excellent work of art in its own right. The work Fielding intended to parody was Richardson's first novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded which had taken England by storm in the years following 1740 when it was first published. Fielding was aware of giving a new literary form with Joseph Andrews which he called "a comic epic in prose." The present paper will analyze the novel Joseph Andrews in the light of this new genre. Keywords: comedy, burlesque, parody, realism, prose Introduction “Fielding started with the intention of writing a burlesque of Henry Fielding is regarded as one of the greatest writers Pamela but as the work progressed, it became the pioneer of a among English novelists of the Eighteenth century and was new type of novel.” determinant in the emergence of the novel as a respected Fielding thought he had hit upon a new genre of literature and literary form.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis-1969-P769l.Pdf
    THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BURLESQUE ASPECTS OF JOSEPH.ANDREWS, A NOVEL BY HENRY FIELDING By ANNA COLLEEN POLK Bachelor of Arts Northeastern State College Tahlequah, Oklahoma 1964 Submitted to the Faculty ot the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS May, 1969 __ j OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 8iP 291969 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BURLESQUE ASPECTS OF JOSEPH ANDREWS, A NOVEL BY HENRY FIELDING Thesis Approved: ~~ £~ 1{,· if'~ Jr-- Dean of the Graduate College 725038 ii PREFACE This thesis explores the·impottance of the burlesque aspects of Joseph Andrews, a novel by Henry Fielding· published in 1742. The· Preface. of.· the novel set forth a comic. theory which was entirely English and-which Fielding describes as a·11kind of writing, which l do not remember-· to have seen· hitherto attempted in our language". (xvii) •1 . The purpose of this paper will be to d.iscuss. the influence o:f; the burlesque .in formulating the new-genre which Fielding implies is the cow,:l..c equivalent of the epic. Now, .·a· comic· romance is a comic epic poem in prose 4iffering from comedy, as the--·serious epic from tragedy its action· being· more extended ·and· c'omp:rehensive; con­ tainiµg ·a ·much larger circle of·incidents, and intro­ ducing a greater ·variety of characters~ - lt differs :f;rO'J;l;l the serious romance in its fable and action,. in· this; that as in the one·these are·grave and solemn, ~o iil the other they·are·light:and:ridiculous: it• differs in its characters by introducing persons of.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews As a Picaresque
    HENRY FIELDING’S JOSEPH ANDREWS AS A PICARESQUE NOVEL DR. MANISH D. BHATT Assistant Professor, Department of English, Vijaynagar Arts College, Vijaynagar - 383460 Dist. S. K. (GJ) INDIA Henry Fielding was born at Sharpham Park in the vicinity of Glastonbury in 1707.It was Sir Gould’s countryside estate. The novelist was the eldest son of Sarah and Edmund. He passed some of his time with Lady Gould, his grandmother. There he developed a taste for law and read something of literature. Fielding died in October, 1754. Before that he was gripped by gout. In 1753 his health showed a considerable deterioration. It became exceedingly difficult for him to perform his magisterial duties. Since the climate of England did not suit him, it was suggested that he should seek a ‘milder climate’. He left the country for Lisbon in Portugal and expired there. The general impression that we gather from his life shows that his career had been that of a protracted struggle. The parental affluence left him in lurch. The political fight undertaken by him was constant and vigorous. His literary understanding was of a kind which not only created a stir in that century, but blazed the trail of light followed by writers of the subsequent periods, a force which pierced through a history of novel writing which came in his wake and after. INTRODUCTION Fielding is regarded as one of the most well-known novelist of 18th century. Joseph Andrews was the first novel written by him. It was published in 1742 as a parody of Samuel DR.
    [Show full text]
  • Justice Fielding, the Novel, and the Law
    Justice Fielding, the Novel, and the Law Martin C. Battestin with Ruthe R. Battestin, Henry Fielding: A Life. Routledge, Chapman & Hall (1990). 738 pp. $45.00. AHen D. Boyer For as I am, in reality, the founder of a new province of writing, so I am at liberty to make what laws I please therein. - Henry Fielding Henry Fielding, who wrote the English language's first good comic novels, was the man who founded England's first modem police force. This understanding lies at the heart of Henry Fielding: A Life, by Martin Battestin, and it matters far more than many better-known connections between law and literature: that Scott was a lawyer, that Kafka was a lawyer, that Dickens was a solicitor's clerk, that Melville spent his work- ing life surrounded by judges. The most revealing passage in Fielding's novels comes near the end of Joseph Andrews. Joseph, his betrothed Fanny, and Parson Abraham Andrews have undergone a particularly harrowing journey across the English countryside-mistaken for robbers, set upon by robbers, cursed at by innkeepers, scorned by parsons. Fanny, at last, is kidnapped, car- ried off by a crooked old soldier, one of the local squire's henchmen. They meet one traveler; Fanny cries out that she is about to be raped; the captain explains that he is carrying home his runaway wife. But then they meet two outriders for a coach: [T]he captain abused her violently for breaking his commands, and threaten'd to gagg her; when two more horsemen, armed with pis- tols, came into the road just before them.
    [Show full text]