Ready Reference Treatise: The Vicar of Wakefield
By Raja Sharma
()
About this ebook
“The Vicar of Wakefield” was first published in 1766. It is subtitled “A Tale.” It is believed that the novel was written between 1761 and 1762.
Among the Victorian novels, “The Vicar of Wakefield” is considered to be one of the most popular and widely read novels in the eighteenth century.
The novelist was said to be going through a period of personal duress while writing the novel. He was under immense amount of emotional strain because of his financial condition.
By that time, he had already got some prominence as a writer, a writer for hire. He used to write for newspapers, journals, and magazines, but he was not able to support himself with his meager income.
During that period Laurence Sterne had got great success after the publication of his novel “The Life of Tristam Shandy.” Goldsmith got jealous of his success, and consequently decided to write a novel, which eventually turned out to be “The Vicar of Wakefield.”
Ready Reference Treatise: The Vicar of Wakefield
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis
Raja Sharma
Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.
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Ready Reference Treatise - Raja Sharma
Ready Reference Treatise: The Vicar of Wakefield
Copyright
Ready Reference Treatise: The Vicar of Wakefield
Raja Sharma
Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved
Chapter One: Introduction
The Vicar of Wakefield
was first published in 1766. It is subtitled A Tale.
It is believed that the novel was written between 1761 and 1762.
Among the Victorian novels, The Vicar of Wakefield
is considered to be one of the most popular and widely read novels in the eighteenth century.
The novelist was said to be going through a period of personal duress while writing the novel. He was under immense amount of emotional strain because of his financial condition. By that time, he had already got some prominence as a writer, a writer for hire. He used to write for newspapers, journals, and magazines, but he was not able to support himself with his meager income.
During that period Laurence Sterne had got great success after the publication of his novel The Life of Tristam Shandy.
Goldsmith got jealous of his success, and consequently decided to write a novel, which eventually turned out to be The Vicar of Wakefield.
The story behind the publication of this novel is also very interesting and it is famous in literary circles. It is assumed that Goldsmith was in debt and there was danger of being imprisoned. He sought the help of Samuel Johnson to find something which could be published from his work. Johnson picked this manuscript from a pile and sold it for sixty pounds.
The publisher did not print it for two years, because he found that it was too much similar to the popular horror tales of the day.
When it was eventually published it did not find a large number of audiences. However, in the following years five authorized London editions got printed by 1774.
Several decades after the death of Goldsmith, the great writers such as Byron, Sir Walter Scott, and Goethe admired his work and The Vicar of Wakefield
immediately became a sensation.
Once, William Hazlitt said in the year 1851 that if Goldsmith had only written the first two or three chapters of The Vicar of Wakefield
he would have been stamped a genius. Since its publication, the novel has never run out of print.
It is noticeable that several bits of the text of the novel are used to illustrate hundreds of words in the Oxford English Dictionary.
The novel remained impervious to criticism for several years and its popularity continued to grow. Most of the critics in the `19th century considered the novel very simple but highly delightful.
Henry James once said that The Vicar of Wakefield
was the spoiled child of contemporary literature. He said that the novel has remained undamaged because of its own little law and keeps smiling with impunity. He said that the novel was so charming that the critics did not try to criticize it.
After several years of its publication, the later critics did begin to criticize the novel. They said that the narrative was more complicated than previously understood. They also said that the story was unrealistic. They pointed that several of the plot elements had been taken from the work of contemporary writers such as Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding.
Some of the critics said that there were some striking similarities between this novel’s events and those of Goldsmith’s life. Now modern critics do write about The Vicar of Wakefield
with extreme enthusiasm.
Since the novel has its unassuming depth and unaffected charm, it has passed the test of time and even today it is frequently discussed in several study circles and academic groups. The novel has also found its place in most of the academic libraries around