英国文学选读Henry Fielding

“To say the truth, I require no more than that a man should have some little knowledge of the subject on which he treats, [. . .]” “I am apt to conceive, that one reason why many English writers have totally failed in describing the manners of upper life, may possibly be, that in reality they know nothing of it. ” “In short, imitation here will not do the busines源自文库. The picture must be after Nature herself. ”
Epistolary novel, autobiographical narration, and third-person narration
Henry Fielding (1707 – 1754)
Father of the English Realistic Novel
Pre-Reading Questions
“But to let my reader into a secret, this knowledge of upper life, though very necessary for preventing mistakes, is no very great resource to a writer whose province is comedy, or that kind of novels which, like this I am writing, is of the comic class. ” “I will venture to say the highest life is much the dullest, and affords very little humour or entertainment. The various callings in lower spheres produce the great variety of humorous characters; [. . .]”
Text A
What is the importance of the inclusion of supernatural powers in this text? How does Fielding achieve the comic effect? What way of narration does Fielding adopt in the writing of this novel? Is there anything special about his way of narration?
Henry Fielding is generally considered “father of the realistic novel”. How do the following texts support this opinion? What do you know about epic? Tom Jones is often called a “comic epic in prose”. What details in Text A support this opinion?
Amazon
Mars Venus
exaggeration of the details and inclusion of minute details of the fight the mention of the names of supernatural powers
sister of Satan, the whole army of the enemy, general, battle, mighty heroes and heroines, fatal day, spoils, Fortune, trophies, combatants, antagonist, Homer’s heroes, Don Quixote, knight-errant
Text B
This is an unusual chapter of a novel. In fact, Fielding includes, at the beginning of every book of this novel, one chapter like this where he does not continue to tell the events of the story, but instead, expresses his views of writing. How do you evaluate this way of narration? In this chapter Fielding discusses the writing of a novel. What should an author know about and write about, according to Fielding? Can we say this chapter justifies Fielding’s title of “father of the realistic novel”?
the bourgeois or middle class rose in their social position ready to take the responsibility of educating people through all public press a rapid growth in readers in the large middle class interest in more realistic matters in their lives
Henry Fielding
(1707 – 1754)
Background Questions
In what historical situation did the novel rise in England? How was the novel in the modern sense different from the stories, tales and romances in prose in the past? What were the three major ways of narration existing in the 18th century novel? What was the special position of Henry Fielding in the history of the English novel?
“Ye Muses then, whoever ye are, who love to sing battles, . . .”
Calliope “epic poetry” Cleio “history” Erato “love poetry” Euterpe “lyric poetry” Melpomene “tragedy” Polyhymnia or Polymnia “sacred poetry” Terpsichore “choral songs” and the “dance” Thaleia “comedy” Urania “astronomy”
(broad sense) any prose work of some length which tells a story, including tales and romances. (modern sense) internal cohesion, emphasis on a tightly knitted plot and action, realistic portrayal of character and situations, avoidance of overtly allegorical elements