The works of Henry Fielding, though written nearly three hundred years ago, retain their sense of comedy and innovation in the face of tradition, and they easily engage the twenty-first-century student with many aspects of eighteenth-century life: travel, inns, masquerades, political and religious factions, the ’45, prisons and the legal system, gender ideals and realities, social class.
Part 1 of this volume, “Materials,” discusses the available editions of Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones, Shamela, Jonathan Wild, and Amelia; suggests useful critical and contextual works for teaching them; and recommends helpful audiovisual and electronic resources. The essays of part 2, “Approaches,” demonstrate that many of the methods and models used for one novel—the romance tradition, Fielding’s legal and journalistic writing, his techniques as a playwright, the ideas of Machiavelli—can be adapted to others.
Volume editors
Jennifer Preston Wilson
Elizabeth Kraft
Contributors
Stephen C. Behrendt, Scott Black, Pamela S. Bromberg, Jill Campbell, Leigh G. Dillard, J. A. Downie, James Evans, Carl Fisher, Joshua Grasso, George E. Haggerty, Anthony J. Hassall, Nicholas Hudson, Regina Janes, Christopher D. Johnson, Eric Leuschner, Nancy A. Mace, Brian McCrea, Lisa Maruca, Adam Potkay, Manushag N. Powell, Chloe Wigston Smith, Rivka Swenson, Earla Wilputte
ix & 236 pp.
Published: 2016
ISBN: 9781603292245 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781603292238 (cloth)
This volume is available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats. Visit the MLA bookstore for more information.