The Real History of Tom Jones / by J. Stevenson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stevenson, John Allen.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

European literature.

Literature, Modern--18th century.

Literature, Modern.

European literature--Renaissance, 1450-1600.

Fiction.

European Literature.

Eighteenth-Century Literature.

Early Modern and Renaissance Literature.

Fiction Literature.

Local Subjects:

European Literature.

Eighteenth-Century Literature.

Early Modern and Renaissance Literature.

Fiction Literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 p.)

Edition:

1st ed. 2005.

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan US : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Real History of Tom Jones revivifies historical materials from which Henry Fielding constructed the greatest comic novel of the eighteenth century. This study recovers and explores the contexts necessary to understand Fielding's subtle art, such as the bloody conflict for the throne between Stuarts and Hanoverians, a contradictory class system, game laws that both protected and flouted individual property rights, and a justice system that proclaimed hanging for many crimes but let most criminals go. Drawing on evidence such as the peculiar appearance of eighteenth-century money, the fraudulent autobiography of a gypsy king, and a magical prayer book illustration, the book offers new readings of both Tom Jones and the political and legal landscape of Georgian England.

Contents:

Introduction: Missing Pictures

Stuart Ghosts

Savage Matters

Black Acts

Hanging Judges

Gypsy Kings

Mirror Plots

Afterword: Sleepless Nights.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786611365271

9781281365279

1281365270

9781403981721

1403981728

OCLC:

312479125