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Tom Jones (Modern Library Classics) Kindle Edition

by Henry Fielding (Author), Fredson Bowers (Editor), Martin C. Battestin (Introduction) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 1,372 ratings

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Tom, a foundling, is discovered one evening by the benevolent Squire Allworthy and his sister Bridget and brought up as a son in their household; when his sexual escapades and general misbehavior lead them to banish him, he sets out in search of both his fortune and his true identity. Amorous, high-spirited, and filled with what Fielding called “the glorious lust of doing good,” but with a tendency toward dissolution, Tom Jones is one of the first characters in English fiction whose human virtues and vices are realistically depicted. This edition is set from the text of the Wesleyan Edition of the Works of Henry Fielding.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`with each volume having an introduction by an acknowledged expert, and exhaustive notes, the World's Classics are surely the most desirable series and, all-round, the best value for money' Oxford Times`well-produced edition.' Daily Telegraph Arts and Books section, 5 July 1997

About the Author

John Bender is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Stanford University. He is author of Spenser and Literary Pictorialism and Imagining the Penitentiary: Fiction and Architecture of Mind in Eighteenth-Century England, co-editor of The Ends of Rhetoric and Chronotypes: The Construction of Time, and associate editor of The Columbia History of the British Novel. Simon Stern is completing a study of literary property and professional authorship in eighteenth-century England, focusing on Henry and Sarah Fielding.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008ED5I48
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Modern Library (July 18, 2012)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 18, 2012
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2732 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 561 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1508509379

Best Sellers Rank: #1,875,030 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #641 in Classic Coming of Age Fiction
- #683 in Classic Humor Fiction
- #713 in Victorian Literary Criticism (Books)

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4.3 1,372 ratings

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1,372 global ratings

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Diana S. Long

Delightful and entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2017

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314. The History of Tom Jones: a foundling by Henry Fielding (Novel-Audible/E Book-Fiction) 5* I read along with the Audible of the novel which I found a highly delightful and entertaining experience.
The narrator, Bill Homewood, who performed the audio version of the work was excellent doing the various characters as well as the invisible narrator (author) of the story. The Synopsis is as follows:

A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighboring squire—though he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. When Tom is banished to make his own fortune and Sophia follows him to London to escape an arranged marriage, the adventure begins. A vivid Hogarthian panorama of eighteenth-century life, spiced with danger and intrigue, bawdy exuberance and good-natured authorial interjections, Tom Jones is one of the greatest and most ambitious comic novels in English literature.

It is rather brilliant, and there is no lack of shenanigans as we follow Jones through his history and the reader never knows when and where the author will abruptly go off on a tangent, told in a most eloquent manner, end with a flourish and no doubt tossed his quill down and took a bow. I am either taken in by some farce or thoroughly enchanted by this author. As Fielding is rather the loquacious writer this read comes in Audible time at almost 38 hours or roughly 1,000 pages but worth every minute spent on it.

7 people found this helpful

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Ms. H

An interesting read

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024

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I like the story, but be warned it can be difficult to get through it for inexperienced readers. It's not what I expected but still a good book to challenge your mind.

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Daniel Myers

A Foundling's Felicity

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2007

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This book or novel or whatever you may deem fit to call it has so many points in its favour that it's difficult to know where to begin. I think a rundown of a few of the myriad of characters that delight me personally might do for starters:

Tom Jones - A young fellow with many "imperfections" if so they may be called, but a robust fellow with a "good heart." Prudence and what is commonly called virtue are not his strong suit - But may I remind the reader that virtue comes from the Latin word for "manliness"- Tom is certainly possessed of the word's etymological origins, if not of its modern usage (particularly in amorous matters)--And a good thing too, or we should have no story here to delight us!

Squire Western- Another rambunctious character, who, for me, typifies all that is Eighteenth Century England. Every time he appeared in this book, whether it was to comment on wenching, wine, or riding to hounds a smirk would immediately cross my face followed invariably by chuckling by the end of the chapter.

Henry Fielding - The author plays as much a part of the book as any of the characters with many prologues and prefaces and etc. For these, and for much of the rest of the book, I might add, the reader who has not had four years of Latin inculcated into him at an English boarding school would do well to buy the Oxford edition, which fully explains all the learned quotes - Also, as one who was thus inculcated but is inclined to laziness, the Oxford edition's notes prove extremely helpful also. Fielding also gives us a lively picture of the literary life of his time, which the Oxford footnotes do a deft job of explaining- In short, buy the Oxford edition.

This review can not be comprehensive. There are simply too many characters to even make a go at encompassing them all. I'm merely describing some of the, to me, more delightful ones.

The book as a whole is simply a joy to read, in its comic descriptions of all who will deign to admit that they are human, and of some priggish sorts who will not so deign. I can put it no better than Fielding Himself at the beginning of Book XV:

"There are a set of religious, or rather moral writers, who teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery, in this world. A very wholesome and comfortable doctrine, and to which we have but one objection, namely, that is not true."

In short, this is a delightful ramble of a book which, while entertaining the reader not too attached to Sunday School, sheds light on how unvirtuous the virtuous can be, and how kind and good-natured the roguish can be as well as giving us as good a history lesson on the state of affairs in Eighteenth century England (with attention given to the Jacobite Rebellion etc.) as many a "proper" history does.

Who, I ask myself, would not delight in this book? ---Well...for the priggish, there's always Jane Austen.

23 people found this helpful

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Jessica Zander Page

great diversion

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2023

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Like the challenge of reading old English.
Inspired by the weaving of story, comedy, ethics and philosophy. Also enjoyed the authors take on critics.

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2005

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I positively dreaded having to read this book for a class and I can't relate how relieved I was to find it enjoyable! Once you get past the idea of the sheer girth of the book, you begin to realize what a humorous writer Henry Fielding was.
The story is about Tom Jones, a hero. What's fabulous about Tom is that he is a "base-born" orphan and it is this alone that is the cause of all of his troubles. Throughout the nine hundred pages of the novel, Tom is chasing after his true love, Sophia Western, and getting nowhere fast. The world itself seems to be keeping them apart. Every time he finds a way, an obstacle is thrown across his path.
In many ways the novel reminds me of something Dickens would have written if his sense of humor had been just a bit more intense.
It's true, there are parts, usually in the beginnings of the chapters where the author goes off about things seemingly unrelated, but you will quickly develop an eye for this and learn what can feasibly "be skipped."
The story travels through all kinds of Tom's crazy adventures and believe it or not, a major mystery is revealed at the end that is sure to surprise even the biggest stick in the mud.
Not only was the story entertaining but, upon finishing it, you are likely to feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment as it is one of the longest novels written in the English language!
It truly is a book you take hold of in the winter months, or any time when you have large chunks of time to spend in doors.
Every one who reads this review should at least attempt it! It is an affordable world classic, and it is not every day that you talk to someone who can claim they read it.

20 people found this helpful

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Benedetta P.

Ottima lettura per il liceo

Reviewed in Italy on April 24, 2024

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Ho acquistato questo libro su consiglio della mia professoressa come lettura estiva. Storia interessante ed esercizi utili per migliorare e allenare l'inglese. Lo consiglio agli studenti della quarta liceo

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Arnab Bhanja Deo

Great

Reviewed in India on June 12, 2023

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Condition wasn't that good for the money paid but content is over the top and outstanding

One person found this helpful

Leonardo Froes da Silva

A situação da época enfocada

Reviewed in Brazil on October 23, 2020

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Gostei do estilo picaresco, à la Cervntes, em que a narrativa é feita

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Vicuña

Timeless classic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2021

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It’s nearly 60 years since I first read this as an A level text. At the time, I enjoyed it more than I expected and this is the first time I’ve revisited the entire book. It’s still surprisingly entertaining. I think I missed a lot of the inherent humour the first time round, particularly from some of the minor characters.

Fielding writes a morality tale which still holds good some 270 years on from first publication and widely regarded as one of the earliest books to be classified as a novel.

Tom Jones is a foundling, raised by Squire Allworthy. He’s a lad with an eye for the ladies and falls in love with Sophia, a lady of noble background. It’s an unlikely match which meets with disapproval from both families. Is backdrop allows Fielding to explore numerous themes including Tom’s flawed good nature versus the real dangers if the world, avarice, hypocrisy, deceit and more. It’s a romance with social commentary and includes reference to the Jacobite uprising and conflicting allegiances. Every chapter has a theme and the reader is addressed and introduced to the ideas explored at the start of the chapter.

It’s a book which works at every level; carefully crafted plot, humour, an incredible list of characters, all plausible and an anti hero to root for. It’s much much better than the film some years ago which was a specious sex romp with little substance. A book to savour and I’m going to listen to the Audible version too.

2 people found this helpful

Client d'Amazon

ATTENTION!

Reviewed in France on May 9, 2017

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ATTENTION! Cet e-book ne compte que 78 pages. C'est une version abrégée du roman, vraisemblablement destinée aux jeunes lecteurs.
Une seule étoile, parce que cela aurait du être indiqué clairement.

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