JOSEPH ANDREWS AS A PICARESQUE NOVEL PDF

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Muhammad Ilyas COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad JOSEPH ANDREWS AS A PICARESQUE NOVEL Henry Fielding along with Samuel Johnson is considered to be the founder of English novel. Fielding was basically a satirist and famous for his political and moral satirical works. His works sh...

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Muhammad Ilyas

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad

JOSEPH ANDREWS AS A PICARESQUE NOVEL Henry Fielding along with Samuel Johnson is considered to be the founder of English novel. Fielding was basically a satirist and famous for his political and moral satirical works. His works show the real picture of 18th century society of England and its moral decadence. Joseph Andrews one of his famous novel was basically written in the parody of Samuel Richardson’s novel “Pamela”. But as we go into the depth of the story, it comes to us obvious that the novel is getting into some different genre of narrative writing which is known as “picaresque”. Picaresque is a basically technique of narrative writing in which the writer exposes the shortcomings, follies and other evils of his running age. In the beginning, picaresque novel was dealt as some kind of romance in which the adventures of villains and rouges were expressed. Bur later on its meaning were changed, and molded as any narrative, describing the life adventures of protagonist with loose plot of story. So picaresque novel is often satirical in nature, in which the principal character is confronted to a series of incidents or events of his life arranged in a chronological order, but these event are not woven in a coherent plot. There are some of the qualities of picaresque novel. From its tradition, picaresque comes from a Spanish word “picaro” which means rogue, rascal or villain. A picaresque story is generally written in first person, unfolding autobiographical account of the character(s). the main character is often of low character or class. There is almost no plot. The story of the novel is told loosely connected adventures or incidents. By keeping in view these salient features of picaresque novel, “Joseph Andrews” can be called a picaresque, but not completely at all.

FA15-MENG-086

Muhammad Ilyas

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad

But besides these features Fielding himself had acknowledged, in the very beginning of his preface, the Spanish poet, playwright and novelist Don Quixote and his work Miguel de Cervantes. This piece of writing by Quixote is a superb example of picaresque tradition. Now coming to these features and relating them to Joseph Andrews, as we read the novel, it becomes evident to us that the author is directly addressing his readers and he is telling the story to his readers in first person narration. The style of autobiographical description is maintained throughout the novel. In the start of each book, fielding presents and defends different cases to his readers. In book (I) he defends his genre and the practice of writing a biography. In book (II) he justifies the division of his novel into books and chapters. Then comes the main character, which should be form lower social class or character. Mr. Andrews, though being very chaste of course don’t possesses low character, yet he is the son of poor parents and the brother of Pamela who is a maid at Booby family. We also see the character wit of Mr. Andrews, when he comes to know the intentions of Lady Booby and Mrs. Slipslop, he makes haste towards Fanny with the better understanding of evil. Another characteristic feature of picaresque that lacks in Mr. Joseph Andrews is the being a rascal or villain. He faces many adventure. He meets wicked people; he is in love with Fanny but never found in the evil or bad sexual or immoral indulgences. He is robbed and wanders many places as well. Then comes the looseness of plot. The novel seems to follow haphazard path. The writer starts with one aspect or point of novel but then suddenly turns into a different dimension and takes us to a different direction. There is lack of organic

FA15-MENG-086

Muhammad Ilyas

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad

unity in the chapters of the books. Sudden explanation of different events or characters make the reader so confused that sometimes he fails to match the series of events. For example, the arrival of Mrs. Slipslop is all sudden and makes the reader to think who she is. Similarly encounter between Fanny and Joseph is quite odd and irrational. Then comes the scope or purpose of picaresque tradition. Like the traditional picaresque novel, Joseph Andrew throws light on the evilness, affectation, and the moral decadence of its age. The character of lady Booby and Mrs. Slipslop are the superb example of the moral decadence of the women of their society. So, there are certain sections where the picaresque tradition is not strictly followed and the author seems to preach morality and becomes didactic. Henry Fielding himself calls it a comic epic poem written in prose, but whatever may be the intentions or motives behind writing it, we find most of the features of picaresque novel in Joseph Andrews.

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