This study of Henry Fielding's Amelia was undertaken in an attempt to discern what Fielding was doing in this last novel, how he was setting about to achieve his purpose, why he felt that this purpose was important, and how successful he had been in achieving his goals. The unrevised first edition published by A. Millar (1752) was utilized because the original purpose of the novel and not the response to criticism was the concern of the study.The study first places Amelia within the period and events of its literary genesis and considers the reception and rejection of the novel 1) in light of the personal feuds between Richardson: and Johnson on the one hand and Fielding on the other, and 2) in light of the later generations of literary criticism.Amelia is considered within the context of the development of the Fielding canon to establish that Henry Fielding maintained essentially the same style, the same intention, and the same point of view in this last novel that he had presented in his more famous earlier novels as well as inhis drama and prose works. The qualities are found to differ from work to work only in degree of emphasis.The study shows through a careful examination of style, structure, and characters that the purpose in Amelia is to set forth the Art of Life as Fielding had previously set forth the Art of the Novel. Amelia Booth is a well-controlled character who mirrors acceptable emotional reaction of the wives of her day. As Captain Booth's alter-ego, she is the locus from which the circles of Life radiate; however, it is Captain William Booth who is the central character through whom the reader experiences the lessons in Virtue--wisdom and prudence--that make possible the eventual perception of the Art of Life. Booth emerges as the last in the succession of Fielding's heroes--a human, fallible, middle-class gentleman who is the prototype of the twentieth-century unhero. He is good-hearted but imprudent and naively myopic.Amelia, upon close examination, emerges as a tight, complex, and well-written novel. It is the product of a mature, vital, and creative artist whose first concern throughout his entire career was the Art of Life, which he felt was best perceived through observing the people, the circumstances, to hopes, and the problems of his time. Amelia emerges as a credible work of remarkable depth and cultural sophistication.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/175368 |
| Date | January 1975 |
| Creators | Butterfield, Ronald Charles |
| Contributors | Snyder, Jack F. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | ix, 120 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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