幼儿读物_11Henry Fielding（12页）.ppt

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) His Life Story Poverty: his parents’marriage his education his own marriage his vocations Illness his own illness family’s illness his new illness Writer’s Background (I)--Poverty Born of an old aristocratic family, Henry Fielding was, for a period of time, at the prestigious Eton, where he cultivated a wide a genuine taste for the classics. Later his father couldnt’t not afford his schooling in England and he was sent to Holland for higher education. He had to work for a living early in life. He first tried his luck at play writing, and during a span of nine years (1729-37) he turned out 26 plays and became the most successful living playwright of the time. Writer’s Background (I) He later came to have his own Little Theatre. His plays were mostly comedies and farces filled with political and social satire, the butt being mainly the government and some government officials, particularly the Prime Minister Walpole. As a playwright, he was applauded by the public but hated by the government. His theatrical career came to an end in 1737 when the political censorship of the Licensing Act went into effect. In 1748, he was appointed Justice of the Peace for Westminster and then Middlesex, a position that brought him little income but much renown , for he served as an honest, upright and efficient magistrate. Drama works Three forms of plays: 1. witty comedies of manners or intrigues in the Restoration tradition 2. farces or ballad operas with political implications 3. burlesques and satires that bear heavily upon the status-quo of England The History of Jonathan Wild the Great (1743) Novel Works The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews (1742) The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) (his masterpiece) The History of Amelia (1751) Literary Ideas He was sympathetic toward the poor and the unfortunate Protested strongly against social injustice and political corruption in his writings The objec