Tom Jones: The Story of a Foundling

First edition 1749

Tom Jones: The Story of a Foundling , original title The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling , often simply referred to as Tom Jones , is a comical novel by the English writer Henry Fielding , which was first published on February 18, 1749 in London. Tom Jones , both an educational and picaresque novel , is one of the first English prose works that can be called a novel .

The novel is divided into 18 parts, each of which is preceded by a chapter deviating from the plot, which often deals with topics that have nothing to do with the plot. The novel is dedicated to George Lyttelton , an English statesman, historian and art patron who was one of the patrons of Henry Fielding.

The novel is considered a classic in world literature. W. Somerset Maugham listed him in his 1948 non-fiction book Great Novelists and Their Novels ( Great Novelists and Their Works) among the ten best novels in the world. Samuel Taylor Coleridge ranked it as one of the three novels with the most perfect storyline. In 2015, 82 international literary critics and scholars voted the novel one of the most important British novels .

action

The wealthy and good-natured landlord Allworthy, who lives with his sister Bridget at his country estate in Somerset, returns home after a long stay in London and finds a baby in his bed. He entrusts the child to his housekeeper, Deborah Wilkins. Jenny Jones, a young woman who works as a servant to the schoolmaster Partridge and his wife, is identified as the presumed mother. The Jenny Jones brought in admits to being the mother of the child, but refuses to name the father. Allworthy gives Jenny Jones the opportunity to start over in a different location where her reputation has not yet risen above her. At the same time he promises his sister that he will raise the boy he calls Thomas in his household. Schoolmaster Partridge is increasingly suspected of being the foundling's father and eventually loses his job.

Dr. Blifil is a regular visitor to the Allworthy estate. He introduces Bridget Allworthy to his brother, Captain Blifil, in the hope that the two will develop a relationship. In fact, the two are getting married soon. After the wedding, Captain Blifil repeatedly shows himself to be cold-hearted towards his brother and at some point his brother finds himself forced to return to London, where he soon dies of a broken heart. The affection between Captain Blifil and Bridget Allworthy is also getting cooler. However, Captain Blifil dies of apoplexy one evening shortly after his evening stroll . A few months later, his widow gave birth to a son, William Blifil, who grew up with the foundling Tom.

Tom Jones way from Somerset to London

Tom grows up to be an attractive young man who, because of his good looks and friendly, open-minded nature, is loved by the opposite sex. His great love since youth is the gentle and virtuous Sophia Western, daughter of a neighboring landowner, who reciprocates his passion. However, he also succumbs to the charm of the seductive Molly Seagram, daughter of Allworthy's game warden. A little later, due to a skillful intrigue by William Blifil, Tom loses the affection of his foster father Allworthy and he is banished from the Allworthy estate for alleged misdeeds. In desperation, Tom leaves the country estate with the aim of being hired as a seaman in Bristol.

For Sophia Western, Tom as a bastard is not a befitting partner. Her aunt and father, Landlord Western, want to force her to marry William Blifil, the son of Bridget, the landlord's widowed sister. Sophia, disgusted by Blifil's wooing, runs away with her maid, Honor, in the hope of finding a place in London with her relative, Lady Bellaston.

Tom experiences numerous adventures during his trip. He briefly joins Redcoats and gives up his plan to go to sea. He meets Partridge, who years ago has been suspected of being his father. Partridge's stupidity prevents Sophia and Tom from meeting in Upton and Sophia believing that Tom no longer loves her and continues to flee to London. Tom, who had a love affair with a Mrs. Water in Upton, follows her to London, where he is seduced by the wealthy Lady Bellaston.

Partridge reveals that Mrs. Water was none other than Jenny Jones, who is believed to be Tom Jones' mother. For a short time, Tom believes he has committed incest. However, Jenny Jones reveals to him that his mother was actually Bridget Allworthy. Bridget Allworthy has now confessed this to her brother on her deathbed. Lady Bellaston and her lover Lord Fellarmar attempt to force Tom into military service, but instead he is arrested for appearing to have killed his opponent in a fight. Sophia, on the other hand, cannot forgive him for his affair with Lady Bellaston and it seems as if nothing could worsen Tom's fate. An unforeseen turn, however, reveals William Blifil's treacherous intrigues with which he tormented Tom since early childhood. Tom regains the affection of his repentant uncle. A little later, Tom meets Sophia, who still loves him, and finally he wins her father's approval for the relationship. In his generosity, Tom forgives those who wronged him.

people

Sophia Western, illustration from 1800

• Master Thomas "Tom" Jones , a foundling and ward of Squire Allworthy.
• Miss Sophia "Sophy" Western , the beautiful and only daughter of the Squire Western. It combines a multitude of virtues.
• Master William Blifil , the scheming son from the marriage of Captain Blifil and Bridget Allworthy, Tom Jones' rival.
• Squire Allworthy , wealthy and good-natured landowner whose estate is in Somerset. He is Tom Jones' guardian.
• Squire Western , wealthy landowner whose country estate is adjacent to that of Squire Allowrthy. His goal is simply to have his daughter Sophia marry the heir of Squire Allworthy.
• Miss Bridget Allworthy (later Mrs. Blifil ), Allworthy's sister, who for a long time kept the fact that she is the unmarried mother of Tom Jones. Her second son is William Blifil from the marriage to Captain Blifil.
• Lady Bellaston , one of Tom's mistresses who holds an influential position in London society. She tries to force Sophia to marry a lord because she hopes that her affair with Tom will continue.
• Mrs. Honor Blackmore , Sophia's maid.
• Dr. Blifil , Captain Blifil's brother who dies of a broken heart after being rejected by him.
• Captain John Blifil , a captain in the British Army, who later marries Bridget Allworthy.
• Lord Fellamar , a figure in London society who tries in vain to take the hand of Sophia Western.
• Brian Fitzpatrick , an Irishman.
• Harriet Fitzpatrick , Mrs. Western's former wards and wife of Fitzpatrick. She is cousin and friend of Sophia even if she lacks her virtues.
• Miss Jenny Jones (later Mrs. Waters ), maid of the Partridges, a clever woman who has long been mistaken for Tom Jones' mother.
• Mrs. Miller , mother of Nancy and Betty Miller.
• Miss Betty Miller , younger daughter of Mrs. Miller.
• Miss Nancy Miller (later Nightingale ), a good-natured girl who allows herself to be seduced into marriage to Mr. Nightingale.
• Mr. Nightingale , a young gentleman.
• Mr. Benjamin "Little Benjamin" Partridge , first schoolmaster, then barber and surgeon who is believed to be Tom Jones' father.
• Mrs. Partridge , Partridge's first wife.
• Mr. George "Black George" Seagrim , Allworthy and later Westerns game warden.
• Miss Molly "Moll" Seagrim , Black George's second daughter and Tom Joness' first love affair. She gives birth to an illegitimate child, whose father may be Tom Jones.
• Mr. Thomas Square , tutor of Tom and William Blifil, preferring the latter, but not allowing himself to be intrigued.
• Rev. Mr. Roger Thwackum , another teacher of Tom and William Blifil, who works with William Blifil to spin intrigues intended to harm Tom.
• Miss Western , Squire Western's unmarried sister, who is convinced that she is well versed in all matters.
• Mrs. Deborah Wilkins , Bridget's maid.

Time of origin and classification

The emergence of the novel falls in a transitional period in the development of the novel, when this literary genre was viewed as the high point of the fashionable development of art, individualized novels were misunderstood despite the simultaneous great successes they experienced in the middle of the 18th century later considered a passing fad. The novels that came out in the same period include the works of Samuel Richardson ( Pamela , 1740; Clarissa , 1748/49), Henry Fieldings ( Joseph Andrew , 1742), Sarah Fielding ( The Adventures of David Simple , 1744), Tobias Smollet ( Roderick Random , 1748; Peregrine Pickle , 1751), Lawrence Sterne ( Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman , 1759/67) or Charlotte Lennox ( The Female Quixote , 1751).

Tom Jones is also in a line of development of fictional heroes who, with their pranks and misfortunes, can primarily be classified as satirises on heroes of the "high" novel. Rabelais ' La vie très horrifique du grand Gargantua (1532–1554) with its peasant boobies exaggerated into giants stands at the beginning of this tradition. As a more far-reaching satire on the Amadis , Cervantes' Don Quixote was published in 1605 and 1615 , the novel of the man whom the reading of chivalric novels caused strange misperceptions of the real world to be countered. Scarron's Roman Comique used a troupe of traveling actors for a dedicated French reflection on the world and poetry after Cervantes and his satire. Lesages Gil Blas (1715–1735), Fieldings Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones: The story of a foundling (1749), Diderot's Jacques le Fataliste (1773, printed 1796) are offshoots of this line of tradition in the 18th century; Jaroslav Hašek of The Good Soldier Schweik (1921-1923) and Gunter Grass The Tin Drum (1959) fell back in the 20th century narrative patterns of narrative tradition.

reception

theatre

In 1764 Charles Palissot presented his Tom Jones to the French royal family in Versailles.

filming

Tom Jones is an Oscar- winning British comedy film from 1963 based on the novel. The film was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed comedies of its time. Directed by Tony Richardson and written by playwright John Osborne . The film stands out because of its unusual comic design: the opening sequence is presented in the style of a silent film , and the characters often break through the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera and addressing the audience.

Further films are:

• 1975 The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones - Director: Cliff Owen
• 1997 - The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling ( Tom Jones ) - Director: Metin Hüseyin

literature

• Matthias Bauer : The picaresque novel. Realien zur Literatur, SM 282. Metzler, Stuttgart 1994 ISBN 3476102823 ISSN  0558-3667 pp. 171–177 (on Wild, Journey, Andrews and Tom Jones).
• William Empson: Henry Fieldings "Tom Jones" . In: Willi Erzgräber (Ed.): Interpretations Volume 7 · English literature from Thomas More to Laurence Sterne . Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. et al. 1970, pp. 286-316.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jonathan Yardley: 'Tom Jones,' as Fresh as Ever . In: The Washington Post , December 9, 2003, p. C1. Retrieved January 3, 2016. 
2. ↑ http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/maughamstenbestnovels.html
3. ^ Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Henry Nelson Coleridge, Specimens of the table talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (London, England: John Murray, 1835), volume 2, page 339.
4. ^ The Guardian: The best British novel of all times - have international critics found it? , accessed on January 2, 2016
5. ^ Gale Cengage: Francis Coventry . In: Literary Criticism (1400-1800). Vol. 46. Dale, Detroit 1999. At: www.enotes.com. Accessed October 31, 2012.
6. ^ "Sarah Fielding". Encyclopædia Britannica Online . Accessed October 31, 2012.
7. ^ Arno Löffler : Lennox, Charlotte. In: Metzler Lexicon of English-Speaking Authors . 631 portraits - from the beginning to the present. Edited by Eberhard Kreutzer and Ansgar Nünning , Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2002, ISBN 3-476-01746-X , p. 346.
8. ↑ M. Battestin: Henry Fielding: A Life. Routledge, London 1993, p. 543.
9. ^ New York Times Review of Tom Jones ( September 4, 2012 memento in the Internet Archive )