Henry Fielding, An Apology for the Life of Mrs Shamela Andrews

Pat Rogers (University of South Florida)

Ed. by Nicholas Seager, University of Keele
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1741

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Satire
Story

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Shamela

(1741) is one of the funniest books ever to have played a part in changing literary history. Like his master Cervantes in

Don Quixote

(1605–15), Fielding used a variety of comic devices to construct a narrative that ridiculed a fashionable mode of writing. It is evident from the start that Fielding intends to undercut the overt message of the recent smash hit by Samuel Richardson,

Pamela

(1740),

the first most talked about novel of the period. For the tale of a virtuous teenage servant girl, Pamela Andrews, repelling the advances of her lecherous master until she brings him to offer marriage, written in a serious and almost solemn vein, Fielding provides a scurrilous comedy, displaying the schemes of a dirty-minded girl to entrap men by the use of “little arts”.

This exchange

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2667 words

Citation: Rogers, Pat. "An Apology for the Life of Mrs Shamela Andrews". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 March 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6686, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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