Introduction to Henry Fielding and Tom Jones

 

Picaresque Novel in the Seventeenth Century

A new kind of novel of Spanish origin, namely, the picaresque novel, made its appearance at the end of the sixteenth century. It remained popular till the days of Fielding and Smollett. The name derives from the Spanish word, Picaro, which means a wandering rogue. Its hero is a rascal, who leads a wandering life full of rather scandalous adventures. The hero is the only link between the various incidents. There were many digressions and interpolated stories. Cervantes's "Don Quixote" is the best known of picaresque tales in Spanish. Le Sage's "Gil Blas" is a French example of this mode of writing.

The picaresque novel in England began early, with "The Unfortunate Traveller or The Life of Jack Wilton" (1594) by Thomas Nashe. Though crude, it is vigorous and witty. "The English Rogue" (1665) by Richard Head is another of the type-gross and scandalous but energetic. The reader takes a glimpse at different lands in the course of the hero's adventures.

 

End of the Seventeenth Century and beginning of the Eighteenth Century: Novel is Assuming Shape

 

The novel dimly took shape by the end of the seventeenth century. Aphra Behn's "Orinooko, The Royal Slave" shows power of description, and some claim to plot, characterization and dialogue. Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1668), though intended to be an allegory, shows a smoothly working plot, a variety of characters, impressive descriptive passages, and simple, dramatic dialogue.

Daniel Defoe represents the culmination of the seventeenth century tendencies in English fiction. He emerged as a novelist with the publication of "Robinson Crusoe." Some of his other novels are- "The Memoirs of a Cavalier," "Captain Singleton," "Moll Flanders," "Colonel Jacob" and "Roxana."

 

Novelists of the Eighteenth Century: "Four Wheels of the Wain"

In the early eighteenth century, the two prominent essayists Steele and Addison, reflected some traits of the novel in their essays which were published in "The Spectator" and "The Coverly Papers." There is little plot in their essays but the character sketches are very entertaining and reveal the spice of delicate humour.

Professor Saintsbury designates Tobias George Smollett (1721- 1771), Laurence Sterne (1715-1768), Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) and Henry Fielding (1707-1754), as the "four wheels of the wain" of the English novel in the eighteenth century.

 

(1) Richardson, as the creator of the Novel of Sentiment, drew his strength and inspiration from national and middle class material. His first novel, 'Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" (1740) came into existence out of a purely commercial undertaking. It was a popular success because its matter, manner and morality were new. His other novels were "Clarissa or The History of a Young Lady" and "History of Sir Charles Grandison."

 

(ii) Henry Fielding goes with Samuel Richardson. Though both were reformers of a depraved age, their literary methods were different. Fielding was a satirist, whereas Richardson was a preacher. Fielding's first novel was "The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams" (1742) "Jonathan Wild the Great" (1743) is a mock-heroic biography of a famous thief. "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling" (1749) is the best and most well known of his novels. His last novel "Amelia" was published in 1751. As a novelist, Fielding marked the rise of a new school of fiction. He created the Novel of Realism, and perfected the satiric Novel of Manners.

(iii) Smollett's novels-"Roderick Random" (1748), "Peregrine Pickle" (1751), "Ferdinand Count Fathom," (1753), "Sir Launcelot Greaves" (1762), "Humphrey Clinker" (1771)-contain his observations and experiences as surgeon, sailor and hack-writer (paid writer).

(iv) In Sterne's novels-"Tristram Shandy" (1760-1767), "Sentimental Journey" (1768)-the sentimental novel reaches the extreme limits of its principle.

It was Fielding who gave to the English novel, a new conception of unity and breadth and depth which was not to be discerned in any of his predecessors. It is the work of the fiction writers earlier to him against the background of which he shines.

 

Fielding lived in an age which was basically 'moral' in outlook. At the same time, it was an age which brought about a synthesis between emotionalism and rationalism. Fielding is quite representative of this attitude. His philosophy is guided by the common sense morality of the age. "Richardson is a classic and Fielding a romantic moralist", observes a critic. Richardson's stress is on a "code", or on conformity to social standard. He judges by the deed which has been done. Fielding, on the other hand, lays stress on native impulse, the goodness of heart, and their weakness or rather sinful impulses.

Sir Walter Scott called Fielding, in a famous phrase, "the Father of English Novel." He said that Fielding had "high potions of the dignity of art which he may be considered as having founded. G. K Chesterton again remarked that “ If Chaucer is the father of English poetry, Fielding is indeed the father of English novel.

 

Fielding's theory of Novel, Comic Epic in Prose

The new province of writing differing both from romance and burlesque (parody) would be a comic romance which is a "comic epic poem in prose differing from comedy, as the serious epic from tragedy; its action being more extended and comprehensive, containing a much larger circle of incidents, and introducing greater variety of characters." The province of this "comic epic poem in prose" is the ridiculous and the only source of the true follies and foibles of humankind. It also attempts to exhibit vanity and hypocrisy .

Fielding calls his novel a history. In other words, it is a fictitious biography of a fictitious hero. Through his History', Fielding presents to us a picture of the age and society to which his hero belongs. Thus The History of Tom Jones contains a panoramic view of the life and society of the eighteenth century. Fielding is a historian of society and social manners.

Fielding's novels, especially Tom Jones, is a comic epic in prose. In other words, Tom Jones is an epic of the eighteenth century, written in prose. The portrayal of life in it is on an epic scale. Just as an epic presents a picture of a nation, Tom Jones offers, to our view a picture of English society, as it was known to Fielding. Excepting the royalty, the entire English society is presented in the novel. The people from the lowest to the highest social stratum, from beggars to aristocrats, are all portrayed in it. Besides, life is portrayed from the point of view of a humorist. Fielding concentrates on the comic aspect of life. Man's folly, hypocrisy and affectation (artificiality, insincerity) become a source of the comic to him. Just as Hardy dwells on the tragic aspects of life, Fielding dwells exclusively on its comic aspects. Fielding has taken the bulk of his characters from the lower ranks of society, for, the comic springs from the folly and weakness of such persons. Men belonging to the upper classes hide their natural identity behind affectation, so that they are more the object of satire than the source of humour. Remarkably his humours have always a serious undertone.