The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) is a novel by Henry Fielding, one of the great comic novels in English. The adventures of a good-hearted but imprudent young man, from Somerset to London, offer a panorama of eighteenth-century England.
The story
A baby is found in the bed of the wealthy and kind Squire Allworthy, who raises him as Tom Jones. Tom grows up with Allworthy's nephew Blifil, a hypocrite, and falls in love with Sophia Western, the daughter of a boisterous neighbouring squire.
Slandered by Blifil and expelled, Tom takes to the road, followed by Sophia, who flees a forced marriage. After many adventures on the road and in London, the truth of his birth is revealed.
Structure
The novel is divided into eighteen books, each opening with a chapter in which the narrator discusses with the reader the art of the novel, criticism and human nature.
Its plot, carefully constructed so that every detail finds its place in the end, was much admired; Samuel Taylor Coleridge counted it among the three most perfect plots ever planned.
Reception
Published in February 1749, it was an immediate success, though some moralists, Samuel Johnson and Samuel Richardson among them, found it immoral.
It was filmed in 1963 by Tony Richardson, with Albert Finney, and won four Academy Awards, including best picture.
Anecdotes
Dedicated to a benefactor
Tom Jones is dedicated to George Lyttelton, a politician and friend of Fielding, who had helped him with money while he was writing it.
Coleridge's three plots
Coleridge said that Oedipus Rex, Ben Jonson's The Alchemist and Tom Jones had the three most perfect plots ever planned.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Tom Jones?
A foundling raised by Squire Allworthy, generous and impulsive, whose good heart leads him into trouble.
Whom does Tom love?
Sophia Western, the daughter of a neighbouring squire, whom he finally marries.
How long is Tom Jones?
Eighteen books, in six volumes in its first edition.