Henry Fielding: A biography

by Pat Rogers

Книга П.Роджерса не является критическим очерком, но это и не "чистая" биография. Это исследование, написанное в объективной манере, обобщает обширный критический и биографический материал, накопленный английским литературоведением. Книга дает всестороннее представление об эпохе Филдинга: перед читателем проходят десятки его современников, среди них писатели С.Ричардсон, Т.Смоллетт, актеры Д.Гаррик, К.Сиббер и другие.Автор подчеркивает новаторский характер филдинговского романа-эпопеи, освещает малоизвестную у нас деятельность Филдинга-журналиста, своеобразие литературного процесса в Англии XVIII века.

Genres: Biography

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Fred Johnson]

Reading about 18th century England, I keep tripping over Henry Fielding in his role as magistrate. Wishing to learn more of his life, I searched for biographies and chose this one based on favorable reviews. I am only a few pages in but, sadly, am unlikely to finish it.

The jacket refers to the author as "eminent British writer... is Professor of English as the University of Bristol". But is the writing herein indicative of what the profession has sunk to?

My critiques so far:

- a biography that does not deign to include citations or biographical references
- bombastic; a false air of erudition, in which the author tosses in unneccessary words or allusions, not with the aim of clarifying a point but rather to demonstrate his superiority (oh but it must be nice talking down to undergraduates from your stage)
- shameless drawing of completely unsubstantiated inferences

A short quotation from page 2 is proof enough of that this book is travesty of authorship:

"It was this muddled inheritance which gave Fielding his peculiar combination of qualities... All his life Henry enacted in his own person, [sic] a struggle between these opposite qualities, January and May, Apollo and Dionysus... There was a split in Fielding's nature, and geneaology goes a long way to explain it."

Fielding's ghost must be apoplectic.

[Nelson]

Though Rogers is a formidable scholar of the 18th century, this is an immensely readable and (at times) tartly funny biography of the novelist, Henry Fielding. The absence of footnotes (or endnotes) should not lead one to think this is sloppy or shabby. There is a full bibliography at the end and Rogers' ample erudition and qualification to write Fielding's life appears on every page. It is a life for general readers (though scholars of the period can profit from it). There is an occasional propensity to speculation (must have, could not but have, etc) though for the most part Rogers is open about his guesses. He also usefully dispels some canards. Little in the way of close reading or evaluation of the major works--and Rogers is up front about this. If Rogers waxes a little more verbose on some of the more obscure works in the canon, it is surely in keeping with his aim to write a general life for general readers, most of whom will need more hand-holding with, say, The Jacobite's Journal, and less with Tom Jones.