Henry Fielding (1707–1754) was an English novelist, playwright and magistrate, the author of Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones. With Samuel Richardson he founded the English novel, which he called a 'comic epic poem in prose'.
Genres
novels and stories, drama
The playwright
Henry Fielding was born on 22 April 1707 at Sharpham Park in Somerset, into a family of the gentry. He studied at Eton and briefly at the University of Leiden in Holland.
In London he wrote some twenty-five comedies, farces and burlesques. His satires of the prime minister Robert Walpole contributed to the Licensing Act of 1737, which imposed censorship on the theatre and ended his career as a dramatist.
The novelist
Fielding studied law and became a barrister. In 1741 he parodied Samuel Richardson's virtuous novel Pamela in Shamela, then wrote Joseph Andrews (1742), about Pamela's brother.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), the story of a good-hearted but imprudent young man, was his masterpiece. Amelia, a darker novel about marriage, followed in 1751.
The magistrate
Appointed justice of the peace for Westminster in 1748, Fielding worked against crime and corruption from his house in Bow Street. With his half-brother John, who was blind, he created the Bow Street Runners, often seen as London's first professional police force.
In poor health, he sailed to Portugal in 1754 and died in Lisbon on 8 October. His Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon was published the following year.
Anecdotes
Shamela
Shamela (1741) turned Richardson's virtuous servant Pamela into a calculating schemer who pretends to be innocent in order to marry her master. Fielding published it anonymously; Richardson never forgave him.
Tom Jones in six volumes
Tom Jones was published in six small volumes in February 1749 and its first printing sold out so quickly that a second was needed within weeks. It has eighteen books, each opening with a chapter of reflections by the narrator.
Frequently asked questions
What is Tom Jones about?
A foundling raised by the good Squire Allworthy grows up, falls in love with Sophia Western, is expelled through the plots of his rival Blifil, and after many adventures discovers his true birth.
Who were the Bow Street Runners?
A small force of paid constables created by Henry and John Fielding at Bow Street, in Westminster, around 1749.
What did Fielding think of Richardson?
He mocked Richardson's Pamela in Shamela and Joseph Andrews, though he later praised his novel Clarissa.