Customer Reviews

Joseph Andrews (Dover Thrift Editions)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an incredible book about real friendship,chastity and honesty written in the most humorous fashion.Fielding brings out the true values of friendship beteween Parson Adams and Joseph and true love between the latter and Funny.He points out the sad but true "false" nature of the upper class and brings out questions about real life.I like this book because it encourages chastity and esteems honesty.

The prize of this novel is the ability of the author to actually poke fun at his own readers...Fielding encourages us to stop, take a break at each short chapter; at some points he even laments that certain passages aren't worth reading, and just skipping over them would lose nothing in the reader's understanding of the content. This of course, works for us in that it makes us more prone to envelop ourselves in every chapter, following the always clumsy journey and comic circumstance of Parson Adams and Joseph Andrews. The journey from country to city is a prevalent theme in the novel, and through these distinctions, we are able to pinpoint the nuanced comedy Fielding finds in living in his own time period. To understand this you must put yourself inside of the 18th century, and more helpful would be to read the novel that this book is a parody of, "Pamela". Fielding challenges the notions of love and chastity in his time in a hysterical way; that is, if you can follow the winding text and dated grammar..
..But what a great book. Really.

Second only to Voltaire's Candide: Or Optimism (Penguin Classics), Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews is the funniest, most intelligent, satirical commentary I've ever read. Actually, let's get rid of the qualifiers, Joseph Andrews is one of the two funniest books I've ever read. (I first read it in college and it introduced me to the idea that important old books could also be highly entertaining, interesting, and illuminating.)

The book was first published in 1742 under the title "The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams" to some controversy. Fielding did not hesitate to poke merciless fun at just about everything 'respectable': religion, the law, lords and ladies, and sexual mores. Fielding attacked the moral hypocrisy of Joseph Richardson's popular Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics). (Fielding also wrote a short work, Shamela, that was a direct response to Pamela. Shamela is often sold together with Joseph Andrews See e.g., Joseph Andrews and Shamela (Penguin Classics).) Pamela created a huge literary controversy; Shamela and Joseph Andrews were just two of many mocking responses, although few others survive (see, e.g. Anti-Pamela and Shamela).

Joseph (who is Pamela's brother!) is a genial but naïve rustic and a footman in the service of Lady Booby (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). When Joseph rejects her very direct and bawdy advances, Lady Booby sends him packing. Joseph then begins walking home from London to the country to seek out (and marry) Fanny Goodwill, his lifelong sweetheart. Along the way he meets his hometown friend the amiable and forgetful Parson Abraham Adams. Parson Adams is on his way to London to sell his sermons for publication. When Adams discovers he has forgotten to pack said sermons, he and Joseph decide to travel home together. The trip is the departure point for many adventures and mishaps that expose the society's hypocrisy and inequities. Along the way, the reader meets many colorful characters whose pretensions often land them in dire circumstances - furnishing much hilarity to us.

Fielding purported to aim at nothing less the invention of a new literary form, the "comic epic-poem in prose". He says in his Preface, "it may not be improper to premise a few words concerning this kind of writing, which I do not remember to have seen hitherto attempted in our language." Fielding, however, was also known to write 'serio-comic', ironic introductions to his works, so some caution is in order. Nonetheless, the Preface accurately describes his "comic epic-poem in prose" as "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 a greater variety of characters. It differs from the serious romance in its fable and action, in this: that as in the one these are grave and solemn, so in the other they are light and ridiculous; it differs in its characters, by introducing persons of inferiour rank, and consequently of inferiour manners, whereas the grave romance sets the highest before us; lastly in its sentiments and diction; by preserving the ludicrous instead of the sublime."

Absolutely the highest possible recommendation.

Henry Fielding wrote one of the great comic novels in Tom Jones. Joseph Andrews is similar in nature but falls far short of Fielding's, masterpiece. The book starts out well enough. A handsome, viral young man of low birth (Andrews) is placed in the family of Lord and Lady Booby. The mistress takes a fancy to Andrews and makes him her footman. Lord Booby dies and the lady tries to force her affections on poor Joseph. Being virtuous, as well as attractive to the opposite sex, he refuses her advances and is promptly dismissed. Joseph then sets out to London to meet his true love, Fanny, and along the way joins up with his mentor, Parson Adams, a kind of Don Quixote character complete with a stumbling horse. Before too long Fanny joins the retinue. A good start.

But Fielding gets into trouble because he can't seem to make up his mind as to who his protagonist is. As Joseph begins his journey he is set upon by a group of robbers, beaten, and left naked in a ditch. A coach comes by and the passengers debate whether or not to save him. At last, persuaded that if they did not try they might be liable to be sued for his death they agree to take him up. But a "lady" riding inside the coach refuses to allow a naked man to be placed beside her. There then ensues a debate over who will give their coat to cover Joseph. This depiction is both humorous and a telling commentary of British values in the first half of the eighteenth century. But Andrews it seems is too staid and pure to be the target of the kind low slapstick comedy that Fielding has in mind, thus much of the remainder of the book focuses on the adventures and foibles of the good parson. Joseph is reduced to the role of defender of Fanny and the parson from various assaults on their person and character.

Fielding also goes off on tangents such as the story of Leonora, Mr. Wilson's life history and the tale told by the parson's son toward the end of the book. Fielding's intent is to display some aspects of the social mores of the times, but these asides distract from the flow of the story. At the end of the book Mr. Wilson's history does, in fact, come to play an important part in the story, but the others are mere sidebars to the action. One interesting diversion does occur when Fielding, as an author talking directly to the reader, interjects into the story to provide a rationale for why books are divided into chapters.

Finally, after a series of humorous and often outrageous adventures Joseph, Fanny and Parson Adams return home and face a new series of problems when Lady Booby re-enters the picture and continues her pursuit of Joseph. At his point other characters including Joseph's sister, Pamela and her husband, Mr. Booby (Lady Booby's nephew), a pedlar, an obsequious character, Beau Didapper who lusts after Fanny, the elder Mr. and Mrs. Andrews and finally Mr. and Mrs. Wilson add to the complications. This section of the book is filled with rollicking humor (including a wonderful scene where Parson Adams mistakes Mrs. Slipslop for a man and battles with her in bed and then wanders into Fanny's bed where he is discovered by Joseph), mystery, and problematic situations (including the possibility that Joseph and Fanny are really brother and sister!), until after a tortuous series of events all ends well with even Lady Booby finding love, or at least lust.

I give the book four stars because it really is not on a par with the great comic novels. But it is a fun and enjoyable read. Joseph Andrews is a humorous book and Fielding provides a look at the foibles and character of various English types in his era. The book is well worth reading even though it falls short of the great pieces of satire and humorous literature.

This is a fine work both to allow the reader insight into England in the 18th century away from court and cathedral, and to provide a peek into the early invention of the English novel.

Fielding's characters paint a vivid picture of how well, or how poorly, people reside within their assigned class levels. Parson Adams, though often playing the naive fool, establishes an expectation of noble Christian behaviour against which Fielding's 'Canterbury Tale'-like characters can be measured. At the same time, Fielding uses Adams to allow the title character to evolve from the pure innocent, who falls into difficulty, to become resurrected as the fully realized, real-life hero.

As a story of life among the lower and middle classes, this is a fine read. But I found the brilliant, excellent construction of this novel to be a real eye-opener as far as the development of the early novel is concerned.

This book was assigned to me in my British Literature class for a book club. Shortly after being assigned this book, I quickly went out and began reading it. While Fielding's writing style does seem to run on a bit, his narrative wit and dialogue is enjoyable.

I found myself liking the three main characters, Parson Adams in particular. He told some interesting stories, and has kind of an older brother relationship with Joesph, making him a good side character. The brief moments of action were pretty good in the story, as were the humorous bits. Its easy to see why this novel will go down as one a classic in literature.

Henry Fielding wrote SHAMELA for the best of all reasons: he needed the money. The fact that Richardson's earlier PAMELA had been begging for burlesque in its absurdities and pretensions can be seen only as a contributory reason. In his preface, Fielding makes it clear that he has placed Richardson's heroine squarely in his sights. He attempts to expose "the many notorious Falsehoods and Misrepresentations of a Book called Pamela, Are exposed and refuted; and all of the matchless Arts of that young Politician, set in a true and just Light." He makes it pretty clear that in the controversy as to whether Pamela's motivation for marrying the cad who tried mightily to seduce her are innocent or mercenary Fielding sees as the latter.

Like PAMELA, SHAMELA is a novel (much briefer than PAMELA) written as letters. But in Fielding's hands, Shamela is seen as the master manipulator. Where Pamela faints whenever her Mr. B. grabs her, Shamela swoons too-but in coarse delight. With each passing episode, Fielding inverts the moral universe of Richardson so that when one considers Richardson's subtitle of PAMELA as "Virtue rewarded," one now sees with crystal clarity that virtue does indeed earn a reward, but the virtue of Pamela and the virtue of Shamela are alike only in their spelling. I am glad that I read PAMELA first, for if I had come across SHAMELA first, I am pretty sure that I would have hooted and guffawed at a young innocent whose only crime was to follow on stage a deadly mimic.

I enjoyed Fielding's sense of humor, his appreciation of human foibles. Joseph Andrews is a good story and becomes more entertaining as it moves along. Parson Adams is my favorite character.

Fielding's basic concept is describing 'manners, not men.'
His main characters are two paragons of chastity (Joseph and his girlfriend Fanny) and a model Christian (parson Abraham Adams).
During their tumultuous itinerary, they are confronted with vanity, avarice, envy, ambition, ingratitude, selfishness, intolerance, venality, hate, lust, folly, malice, deceit, rage and all this behind a veil of hypocrisy (Do as I say, not as I do): 'Lord, it is true I never obeyed one of thy commandments, yet punish me not, for I believe them all.'

The overall mentality is calvinist fatalism: 'We must submit to Providence', and 'no accident happens to us without the Divine permission ... the same power which made us, rules over us, and we are absolutely at his disposal, he may do with us what he pleases, nor have we any right to complain.'
There is also a Malthusian accent: 'he shall not settle here, and bring a nest of beggars into the parish.'
Christianity is only a tiny film of varnish: 'that it was possible in a country professing Christianity, for a wretch to starve in the midst of his fellow-creatures who abounded.'

Socially, the few wealthy rule over the many poor. 'The worst consequence of poverty is dependence on the great.'
Another characteristic is the blatant misogyny, through its picture of the lewdness and vulgarity of women (in sharp contrast with Fanny's manners): 'I am no meat for a footman.'

This rich, lively, fresh and satirical text contains anti-novel sparks and many modern ingredients ('a set of jolly companions ... Their best conversation was nothing but noise.')
But the novel as a whole is loosely built (no real plot) and sometimes too scholarly and boring. It ends in a pure Menander-style.
Still, it is a worth-while read.

As I first time reader of Fielding I found this book unexpectedly comical. In the same line as going to church to hear a boring old pastor and finding your self humoured throughout the sermon. The charactors keep their distance through the third person narrative which allows the reader to judge, pity and find in the case of Fanny and Joseph perfection which is annoyingly unreal.

As for Parson Adams he well may be a saintly man but surely someone other than myself finds his lack of tact, condenscending tone and total innocence extremely irritating.