Book description
SHAMELA is a brilliant parody of Samuel Richardson's PAMELA, in which a
virtuous servant girl long resists her master's advances and is
eventually 'rewarded' with marriage. Fielding's far more spirited and
sexually honest heroine, by contrast, merely uses coyness and mock
modesty as techniques to catch a rich husband. JOSEPH ANDREWS,
Fielding's first full-length novel, can also be seen as a response to
Richardson, as the lascivious Lady Booby sets out to seduce her
comically chaste servant Joseph, (himself in love with the much-put-upon
Fanny Goodwill). As in Tom Jones, Fielding takes a huge cast of
characters out on the road and exposes them to many colourful and often
hilarious adventures. Henry Fielding (1707 - 54) started his career as
a playwright until his outspoken satirical plays so annoyed Walpole's
Government that a new Licensing Act was introduced to drive him from the
stage. He turned to writing various 'comic epics in prose', including
SHAMELA (1741), JOSEPH ANDREWS (1742) and TOM JONES (1749). A master
innovator, he is credited with creating the first modern novels in
English. Judith Hawley is a lecturer in English at Royal Holloway,
University of London.
