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Title: The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams: And, an Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews (Oxford World's Classics) by Henry Fielding, Douglas Brooks-Davies, Tom Keymer, Thomas Keymer ISBN: 0-19-283343-X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)
Rating: 4
Summary: unreservedly recommended
Comment: So I was getting ready to reread Don Quijote (1605)(Miguel de Cervantes 1547-1616) in the excellent Burton Raffel translation and as I was looking for information about the book and author, saw repeated references to Fielding's Joseph Andrews. I'd read his Tom Jones a couple of years ago and found it kind of tough sledding, but when I stumbled upon this one at a library book sale for a quarter, it seemed a stroke of destiny.
The parallels with Don Quijote are readily apparent. First of all, the book consists of a series of humorous travel adventures; second, the travellers involved seem too innocent to survive in the harsh world that confronts them. When Joseph Andrews, the naive footman of Lady Booby, deflects the amorous advances of both her Ladyship and Slipslop, the Lady's servant, he is sent packing. Upon his dismissal, Joseph, along with his friend and mentor Parson Adams, an idealistic and good-hearted rural clergyman, who essentially takes the physical role of Sancho Panza but the moral role of Quijote, sets out to find his beloved but chaste enamorata, Fanny Goodwill, who had earlier been dismissed from Lady Booby's service as a result of Slipslop's jealousy. In their travels they are set upon repeatedly by robbers, continually run out of funds and Adams gets in numerous arguments, theological and otherwise. Meanwhile, Fanny, whom they meet up with along the way, is nearly raped any number of times and is eventually discovered to be Joseph's sister, or maybe not.. The whole thing concludes with a farcical night of musical beds, mistaken identities and astonishing revelations.
I've seen this referred to as the first modern novel; I'm not sure why, in light of it's obvious debt to Cervantes. But it does combine those quixotic elements with a seemingly accurate portrayal of 18th Century English manners and the central concern with identity and status do place it squarely in the modern tradition.
At any rate, it is very funny and, for whatever reason, seemed a much easier read than Tom Jones. I recommend it unreservedly.
GRADE: B+
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Title: Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford Worlds Classics) by Samuel Richardson, Thomas Keymer, Alice Wakely ISBN: 0192829602 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: June, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick: With the Journal to Eliza and a Political Romance (Oxford World's Classics) by Laurence Sterne, Ian Jack ISBN: 019283522X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: August, 1998 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: The Way of the World by William Congreve ISBN: 0486277879 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 31 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
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Title: The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems (Signet Classic Poetry Series) by Alexander Pope, Martin Price ISBN: 0451528778 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Tom Jones (Oxford World's Classics) by Henry Fielding, John Bender, Simon Stern ISBN: 0192834975 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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