Tom Jones

by Henry Fielding

Overview

Richly descriptive, gloriously high-spirited, epic, comic, tragic, and still amazingly lifelike after 200 years, Tom Jonesis one of the marvels of literature.

Set in mid-18th century England, the story focuses on young Tom himself: pure-hearted and warm-blooded, parentage unknown and future uncertain. As he travels life's highway in search of fame and fortune, he comes face-to-face with virtue and vice; before he achieves his destiny, he suffers all the outrages of comic misfortune.

In this audio recording you'll meet the kindly Squire Allworthy, the malevolent Blifil, the beautiful and virtuous Sophia, the bawdy Molly and the seductive Mrs. Waters. As they pursue each other from one part of the country to another, Tom Joneswill entertain and delight you every step of the way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781853260216
Publisher:	Wordsworth Editions, Limited
Publication date:	12/01/1999
Series:	Classics Series
Pages:	768
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Dubbed "the father of the English novel" by Sir Walter Scott, Henry Fielding (1707–54) was educated at Eton and worked as a barrister, although writing was his true vocation. In 1741 he published Shamela, a parody of Samuel Richardson's sentimental and moralistic Pamela, followed a year later by Joseph Andrews. In 1749 he produced Tom Jones, his comic masterpiece and an incomparably vivid portrait of English society during the mid-18th century.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER I
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Tom Jones"
by .
Copyright © 2002 Henry Fielding.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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What People are Saying About This

George Sherburn

Not the serious moral intention of the author, nor even the superb fusion of all elements, can fully account for the pleasure intelligent readers have found for two hundred years in reading Tom Jones. One must recognize as a supreme aid to the success of the book the fact that it is composed with confident directness and precision, and especially that it is written in healthy high spirits—that Fielding keenly enjoyed writing it.

Edward Gibbon

The successors of Charles the Fifth may disdain their brethren of England; but the romance of Tom Jones, that exquisite picture of human manners, will outlive the palace of the Escurial and the imperial eagle of the house of Austria.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Upon my word, I think Tom Jones is one of the most perfect plots ever planned.

Editorial Reviews

"With each volume having an introduction by an acknowledged expert, and exhaustive notes, the World's Classics are surely the most desirable series and, all-round, the best value for the money."—Oxford Times

From the Publisher