The History of Tom Jones

The plotting is complex, astonishing and perfect. It brims with good nature and generosity of spirit…it’s full of jokes, suspense, cliffhangers, narrative reversals and pathos’ – Jonathan Coe * Time Out *
I think the Oedipus Tyrannus, The Alchemist, and Tom Jones, the three most perfect plots ever planned. And how charming, how wholesome, Fielding always is! To take him up after Richardson, is like emerging from a sick room heated by stoves, into an open lawn, on a breezy day in May – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
An exquisite picture of human manners – Edward Gibbon, author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
I am shocked to hear you quote from so vicious a book. I am sorry to hear you have read it: a confession which no modest lady should ever make – Samuel Johnson talking about Tom Jones

Henry Fielding was born near Glastonbury on 22 April 1707. He was educated at Eton and became a prominent writer of plays, political satires and novels. He is regarded as a key figure in the development of the English novel. His most famous works are Joseph Andrews (1742), Tom Jones (1749) and Amelia (1751). Many elements in Tom Jones are based on Fielding’s own experiences and the character of Sophia is based on his first wife, Charlotte. The Female Husband is a pamphlet that Fielding published anonymously in 1746. The story is based on the true case of a woman who was prosecuted for masquerading as a man and marrying another woman. Although he continued to write until his death, Fielding also worked as a magistrate from 1749 and was instrumental in paving the way for the foundation of London’s Metropolitan Police Service. Henry Fielding died near Lisbon on 8 October 1754.

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