Sarah Fielding Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Robert S. Hunting

Critical Essay by Robert S. Hunting

SOURCE: "Fielding's Revisions of David Simple," in Boston University Studies in English, Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer, 1957, pp. 117-21.

Below, Hunting discusses the extent of Henry Fielding's "corrections" to his sister's novels, describing them as the benign attempt of a loving brother to polish his sister's inferior literary efforts.

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In 1744 appeared a now almost forgotten two-volume book, anonymously published, called The Adventures of David Simple: Containing An Account of his Travels Through the Cities of London and Westminister, In Search of A Real Friend. This first of the so-called "humanitarian" novels was written "By a Lady" who, in her preface, apologized for "the many Inaccuracies … in the Style, and other Faults of the Composition." The modest author was Sarah Fielding, spinster sister of Henry Fielding, noted playwright, editor, and novelist.

In 1744, however, the noted Henry Fielding was neither a practicing playwright, editor, nor novelist. He was...
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