Martin C. Battestin – författare

Important discoveries in private and public archives have recently brought to light many new letters by Henry Fielding (1707-54) and by his sister, the novelist and classicist Sarah Fielding (1710-68). Published here for the first time is their entire extant correspondence, edited with an Introduction and explanatory annotations - 77 letters from and to Henry Fielding written over the years 1727 to 1754, and 33 letters from and to Sarah Fielding written from 1749 to 1767.The collection illuminates Henry Fielding's activities as author, lawyer, and magistrate; and it is valuable as well for the light it throws on his character and personal relationships. Fielding scholars are already acquainted with the important letters to his cousin Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, to his rival Samuel Richardson, to his friend George Lyttelton, and to his famous half-brother John Fielding, the latter written on the sad occasion of his final voyage to Lisbon. In this volume they will also find Fielding's correspondence with his great patron, the Duke of Bedford, and his agents - letters relating to Fielding's stewardship of the New Forest and to his appointments to the magistracy. The heart of this present collection, however - Fielding's correspondence with his closest friend, James `Hermes' Harris - is completely new. Never before published, the Harris letters comprise the finest extant examples of Fielding's epistolary correspondence, a kind of familiar writing he practised reluctantly, but well.The Harris papers are equally valuable for what they reveal of Sarah Fielding's literary and scholarly interests and her relationship with her brother. Other letters in the collection - several also published here for the first time - will serve to clarify her friendships with Richardson, Garrick, and Elizabeth Montagu. Included in the Appendix are a half-dozen letters from members of the family that will be of interest to biographers of Henry and Sarah.

A scholarly edition of a work by Henry Fielding. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.

This book completes the authoritative Wesleyan Edition of Fielding's nondramatic writings. It features two of Fielding's classic works: The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon written as he sailed to Portugal hoping, in vain, to recover his health; and Shamela, the hilarious parody of Richardson's Pamela that led to Joseph Andrews and the beginning of his career as novelist. The volume also includes every other work of Fielding's not to be found in the twelve previous volumes of the nondramatic writings. Here the reader will find in section I, Occasional Verse: 'The Masquerade'; the unfinished 'Cantos'; a burlesque of Pope's 'Dunciad'; 'Plain Truth'; 'A Dialogue between a Beau's Head and his Heels'; 'An Epistle to Mr. Lyttleton'; as well as three epilogues and a prologue. In section II, Occasional Prose: 'A Full Vindication of the Dutchess Dowager of Marlborough'; the translation of Aristophanes' 'Plutus, the God of Riches'; Preface to Sarah Fielding's Adventures of David Simple; 'The Female Husband'; 'Ovid's Art of Love Paraphrased'; Preface and letters xl-xliv of Sarah Fielding's Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters in David Simple; and 'A Fragment of a Comment on L. Bolingbroke's Essays'. The appendicies include writings recently attributed to Fielding, supplementary material relating to the voyage to Lisbon, and the full textual apparatus.

Best remembered as the author of Joseph Andrews (1742), Tom Jones (1749) and Amelia (1751), Henry Fielding was one of the most important pioneering English novelists of the eighteenth century, and his works continue to occupy a central place in the literary canon. During the 1730s he was the most dominant playwright in London since John Dryden; and in his official capacity as a magistrate, he addressed serious social problems and invented the modern metropolitan police. This reference book makes essential information available to readers interested in Fielding, his life, and his works.The volume is organized in sections devoted to such topics as Fielding's residences; his family members and household; historical persons, including authors who influenced him; his works; themes and topics important to his writings; and characters in his plays and prose fiction. Each section contains numerous entries on particular items, and many entries provide brief bibliographical information. While the sectional organization of the volume invites the reader to explore broad areas of interest, a thorough index provides convenient alphabetical access to the entries. A brief introductory essay and chronology begin the volume, and the book concludes with an extensive bibliography.

For almost the first time in Mr Battestin's book religion has its full innings in the reinterpretation of eighteenth-century literature … Perhaps his greatest contribution is his recovery of a number of divines and their writings and his employment of them as an intellectual rather than a merely antiquarian resource"" - Paul Fussell,

First published in 1989, Henry Fielding is a biography presenting a fresh interpretation of Fielding’s life and thought. Using newly discovered information, including new facts, three hitherto unknown pictures of Fielding drawn from life, documents, manuscripts, and many crucially important and engrossing new letters, Martin C. Battestin – the foremost Fielding scholar – illuminates every aspect of Fielding’s life and work. Fielding and the life he led – in the West Country, at Eton, at the University of Leyden, and in the theatres and brothels, sponging houses and police courts of London – make for fascinating reading. This authoritative and timely biography will appeal to all those interested in the society and literature of eighteenth-century England.