Henry Fielding
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"It is Richardson and Fielding who have taught us that only the profound study of the heart of man . . . can inspire the novelist."--Reflections on the Novel (1799) by Marquis de Sade It was through Fielding, indeed, that satire entered the English romance of roguery, which before his day had been peculiarly devoid of it. Swift, though he possessed the gift of picaresque realism, never adopted the picaresque form, but preferred for his masterpiece the slightly allied imaginary journey of Lucian, Rabelais, and Cyrano de Bergerac. Yet Swift suggested to Gay the theme of his roguish Beggar's Opera, and Fielding's Jonathan Wild owes a debt to Gulliver's Travels for something of its ironic spirit. If Fielding drew away presently from sheer satire to the novel proper and allowed humor to replace irony, Charles Johnstone continued in his romances of roguery the satiric tradition which Thackeray was to carry to perfection in Barry Lyndon.--The Literature of Roguery (1907) by Frank Wadleigh Chandler |
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Henry Fielding (April 22, 1707 – October 8, 1754) was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones.
Aside from his literary achievements, he has a significant place in the history of law-enforcement, having founded what some have called London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners.
Partial list of works
- The Masquerade – a poem (Fielding's first publication)
- Love in Several Masques – play, 1728
- Rape upon Rape – play, 1730. Adapted by Bernard Miles as Lock Up Your Daughters! in 1959, filmed in 1974
- The Temple Beau – play, 1730
- The Author's Farce – play, 1730
- The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb – play, 1731
- Grub-Street Opera – play, 1731
- The Modern Husband – play, 1732
- The Covent Garden Tragedy – play, 1732
- Pasquin – play, 1736
- The Historical Register for the Year 1736 – play, 1737
- An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews – novel, 1741
- The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his Friend, Mr. Abraham Abrams – novel, 1742
- The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great – novel, 1743, ironic treatment of Jonathan Wild, the most notorious underworld figure of the time. Published as Volume 3 of Miscellanies.
- Miscellanies – collection of works, 1743, contained the poem Part of Juvenal's Sixth Satire, Modernized in Burlesque Verse
- The Female Husband or the Surprising History of Mrs Mary alias Mr George Hamilton, who was convicted of having married a young woman of Wells and lived with her as her husband, taken from her own mouth since her confinement – pamphlet, fictionalized report, 1746
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling – novel, 1749
- A Journey from this World to the Next – 1749
- Amelia – novel, 1751
- The Covent Garden Journal – periodical, 1752
- Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon – travel narrative, 1755
- "An Essay on Nothing"
