June 2014 Guest Editor Freya North on The History of Tom Jones...
I have to admit that I saw the film version with Albert Finney and Susannah York first – but I loved it so much I read the novel immediatley. I was a teenager and it was the first very early novel that I read by choice, rather than from the school curriculum. I loved it. I also loved that it was vilified in its time as `A motley history of bastardism, fornication, and adultery' . To me, that is precisely what a classic romp should be. The cast is a lurid, wonderful hotpot of prudes, whores, libertines, bumpkins, scoundrels and virgins. I loved Tom because despite his inability to resist temptation he’s essentailly very warm-hearted and real. I’ve often thought what a happy couple he and Moll Flanders would make…
One of the cleverest and funniest novels ever written, Tom Jones is Henry Fielding's greatest achievement. Tom Jones, born a foundling, grown into a gallant and irresistible hero, romps through the English countryside getting himself into all kinds of trouble through his good nature and eye for the ladies. Betrayed by jealous relatives, Tom is exiled from home and must undergo a variety of trials and adventures in his quest to be reunited with his one true love and redeem himself in the eyes of society.