Tom Jones: A Norton Critical Edition: 0 (Norton Critical Editions)

Tom Jones, published in the mid-18th century, is one of the undisputed classics of English literature, a bawdy, picaresque tale of our young hero's progress in the world following his expulsion from his adopted father's home. For all the spirited, and occasionally puerile, humour, this book is also heavily moralistic, as was the fashion of the time, as well as fiercely satirical of cant and hypocrisy, which Fielding sees as hidden presences in religious and philosophical dogmatism. True good nature is found embodied in the unlearned and naive title character, a young man of action, not thought.A notable feature of this novel is the narrative voice. The narrator is not a character in the story he tells, but he is a character, who, mostly with tongue-in-cheek, passes comment on the action or purports to misunderstand what he sees for comic effect. The sly wit of said narrator gives the book much of its charm. For this narrator, Fielding is undoubtedly somewhat indebted to Cervantes' Don Quijote and Quijote's relationship with Sancho Panza is also a clear model for that between the idealistic Jones and the self-serving Partridge. However, Jones is, unlike Don Quijote, a one-dimensional character, and Fielding overdoes the eulogising of his honesty, generosity and good humour.Though this book is often very witty, and the narrative tone is beautifully judged (and the chapter headings are enjoyable to read in themselves), the overt moralising is unlikely to be to modern tastes and the central characters of Jones and his beloved Sophia are improbable in their possession of so many perfections of mind and body and thus not particularly engaging.Though some may think it impertinent for an unqualified person to pass judgement on a classic of this magnitude, and think that a failure to enjoy it is a fault of the reader, yet I must say that Tom Jones is rather poor fare for the modern reader, if I may consider myself a representative of such, and though I appreciate its great merits, I felt somewhat alienated by its trite moralising and ultimately rather bored.This Norton edition, which is in very small print, also contains 150-ish pages of judiciously selected comment and criticism of the novel, including opinions of Coleridge, Samuel Richardson, etc., as well as footnotes to the text.