Book description
When Dr Primrose loses his fortune in a disastrous investment, his
idyllic life in the country is shattered and he is forced to move with
his wife and six children to an impoverished living on the estate of
Squire Thornhill. Taking to the road in pursuit of his daughter, who has
been seduced by the rakish Squire, the beleaguered Primrose becomes
embroiled in a series of misadventures - encountering his long-lost son
in a travelling theatre company and even spending time in a debtor's
prison. Yet Primrose, though hampered by his unworldliness and pride, is
sustained by his unwavering religious faith. In The Vicar of Wakefield,
Goldsmith gently mocks many of the literary conventions of his day -
from pastoral and romance to the picaresque - infusing his story of a
hapless clergyman with warm humour and amiable social satire.
Oliver Goldsmith (1728 - 1774) was born in Ireland. Having studied at
Trinity College, Dublin, he studied medicine at Edinburgh and Leyden
after being rejected by the Church of Ireland. Settling in London, he
was writing professionally by 1757 and became a friend of Johnson.
Best known for She Stoops to Conquer, The Vicar of Wakefield is his
only novel and is generally considered his finest work.
Stephen Coote was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge and
Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of critical
studies of Chaucer, T. S. Eliot and English literature of the Middle
Ages, as well as biographies of Byron and William Morris.
