Joseph Andrews

Written by Henry Fielding

Narrated by John Telfer

In one of the first novels in the English language, we follow the picaresque adventures of Joseph Andrews, a virtuous young man who is keen to maintain his innocence, despite being coerced into bed by nearly every woman he encounters. The episodic journey sees him head home to London with his tutor, Parson Adams, with the aim of finding his sweetheart, Fanny. Much mayhem ensues along the way as they become embroiled in a series of escapades and slapstick brawls. Fielding is an expert satirist and through the many twists and turns of narration, he combines high and low literature with high and low humour to create a witty novel that he aptly named a ‘comic epic poem in prose’.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Apr 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781843798958

Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) was an English novelist, dramatist, and prominent magistrate. He was born into noble lineage, yet was cut off from his allowance as a young man and subsequently began a career writing plays. He wrote over 25 dramatic works, primarily satires addressing political injustice. When Fielding's career as a playwright ended with new censorship laws, he turned to writing fiction. His work as a novelist is considered to have ushered in a new genre of literature. Among his best known masterpieces are The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild (1743) and The History of Tom Jones (1749).

Reviews for Joseph Andrews

[DianneOgley-richardson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Joseph only wants to marry Fanny, his sweetheart, but everything seems to be working together to prevent it. A sequel to Pamela, Joseph is her virtuous brother, who only wants to do what is right according to his minister mr Abbott.

[dougwood57 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I recall it as being amusing but I read it 40 years ago so details are vague.

[osbaldistone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[mbmackay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Written in 1742, this book is remarkably modern. Beautifully exaggerated caricatures of key players and Mrs Slipsop as a later Mrs Malaprop. Written as a send-up of Pamela, it still works long after the target has been forgotten. Read April 2009.