Action and Ideas

What sets the 18th Century novel apart from its 19th and 20th Century cousins—or at least what sets it apart for me—is the rapidity of the action, untrammeled by intricate descriptions of interior décor, the sunset outside, or other literary impedimenta. Years ago, while recovering from the flu, I read Smollett’s Roderick Random at one sitting.

Similarly, when ideas make an appearance they are handled just as directly; either with a prefatory essay-chapter for each new book of the story, or in set-piece debates among the characters. It’s not a better way of telling a tale, but it can seem, at least to this listener, a refreshingly honest, no-nonsense way to go about it.

Hence my utter enjoyment of Joseph Andrews. Fielding assumes you already know what an upper- or lower-class home would look like. His characters don't personify ideas; they're mouthpieces for them. Add the author’s sincere humanity (far less cloying than Dickens) and his humor that can be aimed at anyone, including his heroes and heroines, and you have a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Though I’ve always (probably mistakenly) considered this novel a warm-up for Fielding’s tour de force, Tom Jones, it stands on its own, even if one has never read Richardson’s Pamela (which I have not).

John Telfer, whom I’ve only recently encountered in his recordings of Leslie Charteris’ Simon Templar adventures, does a bang-up job here, reading with what another reviewer has called, “just the right tone”. He gets every urbane nuance and off-color innuendo and expresses each to a nicety.

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A delight

Henry Fielding is a delight, and John Telfer's narration hits just the right tone, for the narrative as a whole and for each of the characters: the likeable and virtuous Joseph, the well-meaning but bumbling Parson Adams, and the malicious pair Lady Booby and Mistress Slipslop. It resembles Tom Jones in that the story is loosely built on the frame of a journey to London: many interesting characters are met along the way, and some of them, as in Don Quixote, tell their own stories in charming digressions. The tone is light, the characters engaging, and the ending a happy one. I smiled throughout and laughed out loud more than once.

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Lve doesn't run smoothly but it's worth the wait

Hilarious story filled with every unimaginable adventure possible. I laughed out loud and wondered how it could end well.

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A perfect book and an excellent reader

Any additional comments?

I love this book. We do not wear nightcaps, but we have the same follies as characters in this book. Published in 1742, it is about us. The reader is excellent.

1 person found this helpful