WHAT IS NOVEL?
A Novel is prose narrative of considerable length and some complexity that deals imaginatively (fictional) with human experiences (near to life) through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting. Previously it was known as fictional narrative or narrative prose.
( A Narrative opens “in media res”. This means it opens usually with the hero at his lowest point “in the middle of things”, earlier portions of the story appear later as flashbacks..)
Main characterstics of novels are theme, plot or setting, structure, action or events in a sequence, strong characterization and expressive language.
The genre of extended prose fiction or narrative fictional prose i.e. novel is rooted in the tradition of medieval "romances" or the heroic romance in prose. The term ‘roman or romance’ linked fictions back to the histories that had appeared in the Romance language of 11th and 12th-century southern France. The typical Arthurian romance became a fashion in the late 12th century. The unexpected and peculiar adventures surprised the audience in romances like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1380).The romance had become a stable generic term by the beginning of the 13th century, as in the Roman de la Rose (c. 1230), famous today in English through Geoffrey Chaucer's late 14th-century translation. Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (1380–87) is a late example of this European fashion.
Prose narrators wrote narrative patterns as employed in fairy tales and with complex plot structures, the work of Boccaccio and Chaucer share this model of construction with modern jokes, In the 14th and 15th centuries when prose legends became fashionable among the female urban elite, prose became the medium of the urban commercial book market in the 15th century.
But the world of these romances had not much affinity with the actual world. In the epic the writer reveals the basic truth of human nature and human life. In the course of the 18th century, the reviewing of fiction changed the situation for the fictional work. When the first novelists began writing what were later called novels, they thought they were writing about human life and human nature with fiction or romance like Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and Henry Fielding attempted was called the Prose epic form.
The requirement of length has been traditionally connected with the notion that epic length performances try to cope with the "totality of life”. Fielding’s contribution is that all the characters of the novel involved, work towards a comprehensive action. a realistic portrayal of his characters is there with the fiction or the romantic touch. Hence, a new genre came to existence and what he wrote,we now called novel. Walter Allen sums up Fielding’s contribution in the following words:
“The form the novel took in England for more than a hundered years had its origin in Fielding, and in this respect, Smollet, Scott, Dickens, Thackeray and Meredith all wrote in a shadow.”

INTRODUCTION
WHY CALLED A COMIC EPIC?

What is Comedy ? In Medieval and Renaissance use, the word ‘comedy’ came to mean any play or narrative poem in which the main characters manage to avert an impending disaster and have a happy ending. Now, it is defined as a ludicrous and amusing event or series of events designed to provide enjoyment and produce smiles or laughter usually written in a light, familiar bantering, or satirical style. Anything regarding comedy is called Comic.

What is Epic ?
An ‘Epic’ is defined: An extended or long narrative poem with great scope, related in an elevated or exalted style, and a grand theme centered on a heroic figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human race. The hero often has superhuman or divine trait is greater in all ways than the common man. But for comic epic it isn’t necessary.

The traditional epics were shaped by a literary artist from historical and legendary materials which had developed in the oral traditions of his nation during a period of expansion and warfare.(photo of an old Epic manuscript)

[pic]

If we think that combining both the elements of comedy and Epic if we shift from poetry towards prose then we may just leave the verse. With the single exception of meter, Comic Epic becomes Prose Comic Epic or comic Epic in prose, we may be on the wrong path because infact:

|The Epic |Comic Epic in Prose |
|oral and poetic language |written and referential language |
|public and remarkable deeds |private, daily experiencer |
|historical or legendary hero |humanized "ordinary" characters |
|collective enterprise |individual enterprise |
|generalized setting in time and place |particularized setting in time and place |
|rigid traditional structure according to previous patterns |structure determined by actions of character within a moral |
| |pattern |

The PREFACE-------Henry Fielding’s view of the “Comic Epic In Prose” and the purpose of writing

Though Fielding was also known to write 'serio-comic', ironic introductions to his other works, but the Preface of Joseph Andrews defines it as "comic epic in prose." Fielding strategically advertises his authorship formally. Fielding’s purpose was aimed at inventing a new literary form, the "comic epic in prose" as he describes in his Preface:

"…..differing from comedy, as the serious epic from tragedy: its action being more extended and comprehensive; containing a much larger circle of incidents, and introducing a greater variety of characters. It differs from the serious romance in its fable and action, in this: that as in the one these are grave and solemn, so in the other they are light and ridiculous; it differs in its characters, by introducing persons of inferior rank, and consequently of inferior manners, whereas the grave romance sets the highest before us: lastly, in its sentiments and diction; by preserving the ludicrous instead of the sublime." Fielding has decribed the elements of his specimen genre with the criteria of classical literature. As Aristotle described six characteristics of an epic : "fable, action, characters, sentiments, diction, and meter." Since then, critics have used these criteria to describe two kinds of epics.
Summarizing both of them in the form of difference table

|Serious Epic Poem |Comic Epic in Prose |
|fable and action are grave and solemn |fable and action are |
| |light and ridiculous |
|characters are the highest | |
| |characters are inferior; actions /adventures are highest |
| | |
|sentiments and diction preserve the sublime |sentiments and diction preserve the ludicrous (comical) |
|verse |prose |

Making additions to the definitions, “Indeed, no two species of writing can differ more widely than the comic and the burlesque; for as the latter is ever the exhibition of what is monstrous and unnatural, and where our delight, if we examine it, arises from the surprising absurdity, as in appropriating the manners of the highest to the lowest, or e converso; so in the former we should ever confine ourselves strictly to nature, from the just imitation of which will flow all the pleasure we can this way convey to a sensible reader.”
He further explains in his Preface that his work is ‘of truly comic kind and in the dress of poetry, where characters and sentiments are perfectly natural’ and not burlesque that is ‘empty, pomp and exalted in diction but with mean characters and low sentiments’ and gives ‘little honor to them’. Moreover, in the forthcoming paragraphs, he adds that creating characters in burlesque or comic is like painting caricatures, but painting monstrous caricatures is easier than describing caricatures for producing ridicule, which he believes arises from ‘rational and useful pleasure’.
Fielding accordingly goes on to define it. “The only Source of the true Ridiculous (as it appears to me) is Affectation,” to which Fielding assigns two possible causes, “Vanity, or Hypocrisy”. The vain man either lacks the virtue or quality he claims to have, or else he claims to possess it in a greater degree than he actually does. By contrast, the hypocritical man ‘is the very reverse of what he would seem to be,’ Fielding further says that the sense of the ridiculous arising from discovery of hypocrisy will be stronger than that arising in the case of vanity.
He goes on to cite Richardson’s Pamela and Cibber’s autobiography as examples of recent works of literature that have moved readers to the imitation of virtue; while the examples are obviously sarcastic, the principle and its diction/enunciation are not.

Borrowing E. M. Forster's metaphor representing ‘the novel as a sort of sprawling and richly variegated country, one can say that Fielding was a pioneer in uncharted regions. He was the first English novelist to beat the genre's ample fields, ………… , and to explore its cheerier heights, where he discovered veins of truest ore.’

Comic Epic elements in his Joseph Andrews

“An art which conceals art, but is the art of a conscious artist.”
E. M. Thornbury praises “Joseph Andrews” by Fielding in these words depicting that his formal principles give unity to his materials without our being aware of them.
Joseph Andrews surely has no rhythm or meter of epic poetry but its length and the subject it carries gives it the scale of an epic. It is not history for it is not superficial study of events, nor it is total burlesque, for it does not distort the characters and reality. Besides ‘it differs in its characters, by introducing persons of inferior rank’ who are near to real life.
The characterstics of Comic Epic in prose according to what we have already discussed • fable and action are light and ridiculous • sentiments and diction preserve the ludicrous/farcical • private, daily experiences

• characters are inferior; actions /adventures are highest • humanized "ordinary" characters • structure determined by actions of character within a moral pattern
Light and Ridiculous ; Comic Element “I have employed all the wit and humour of which I am master in the following history; wherein I have endeavoured to laugh mankind out of their follies and vices.” (Henry Fielding—About Joseph Andrews in his dedication to Tom Jones)
It is not comic since acc. to the traditional definition of comic it has slight imagination, idealism with a happy conclusion. Fielding’s tone is light and frivolous. Though Fielding did not hesitate to poke merciless fun at just about everything, we find that we are no longer merely laughing at people and situations, but also laughing with them; we are taking delight, rather than laughing in scorn(contempt).
According to him ridiculous emerges by striking the reader with surprise and pleasure virtually exposing the hypocrisy and vanity of the characters. In Joseph Andrews the comic point of view is sustained throughout. Joseph’s virtuous resistance to the advances of Lady Booby is light ridicule of Richardson’s Pamela and his letters to his sister parody those of Pamela to her parents

The sentiments and diction are mainly ludicrous. • His description of mrs. slipslop short, red with the addition of pimples, her long nose and eyes too little, resembles cow she is a mighty affecter of words luscious for lustful and flagrant for fragrance • description of Parson Trulliber the roundness of his belly is increased by his shortness ,his gait like a goose

• A parson looking like a hog because he thinks day and night of his hogs, starts looking like a hog himself.

• Although he respects and admires the virtues of Parson Adams he makes him a laughable figure. He makes his worldliness, his book learning and ignorance of mankind, and even his kindness and honesty, the subject of gentle sympathetic laughter. e.g. Parson Adams tries to comfort Joseph by preaching patience when Joseph has wild grief of Fanny’s abduction ‘Now believe me, no Christian ought so to set his Heart on any Person or Thing in this World, but that whenever it shall be required or taken from him in any manner by Divine Providence, he may be able, peaceably, quietly, and contentedly to resign it.’” At which Words one came hastily in and acquainted Mr. Adams that his youngest Son was drowned. Speaking to Joseph shortly before his marriage to Fanny, Mr. Adams returns to his themes of the regulation of the passions and submission to the divine will. He demands patience that people control even their spousal and familial affections, God appears to demand the death of a beloved son as a test which Abraham passes but Adams fails. While at supposed death of his son, he refuses to be comforted. Adams certainly shows himself incapable of taking his own advice,
Moreover, Beau didapper in an attempt to rape Fanny, mistakenly ends up in Mrs slipslop’s bed. To her rescue ,parson adams rushes in the room wearing only nightshirt . mislead by the darkness, he mistook Beau’s delicate skin and of slipslop’s beard, he starts punching slipslop.At the end of the fight parson Adams took a wrong turn and quietly goes to Fanny’s bed beside Fanny Similarly In the beginning of the novel, he makes Joseph’s virtue amusing and Lady Booby’s amorousness ridiculous.
Even when Joseph is stripped naked by thieves and left dying in a ditch he makes his plight ludicrous as he describes the rescue by the party in the stage-coach.
Hence, Fielding did not hesitate to poke merciless fun at just about everything 'respectable': religion, the law, lords and ladies, and sexual mores.

A Grand Theme for His Epic
Henry Fielding has presented Joseph Andrews as an odyssey or journey of the roadside; Joseph makes a deliberate move from the confusion and hypocrisy of London to the open sincerity of the country. This journey is undertaken in more than a simply geographical sense. Fielding takes his characters through a series of episodes, finally aligning them with their correct partners in an improved social setting. Through the journey, the characters, for the most part, have all measured and achieved a greater degree of self-knowledge. Thus the marriage of Fanny to a more experienced Joseph takes place in an ideal setting — the country — and is facilitated by the generosity of an enlightened Mr. Booby though Lady Booby, unchanged and unreformed, returns to London, excluding herself from the society which Fielding has reshaped. The novel and the theme in the words of Martin C. Battestin, “a moral pilgrimage from the vanity and corruption of the Great City to the relative naturalness and simplicity of the country.”

This infact is the grand theme of his epic: the difference between town and country life
[But we don’t have a comprehensive picture of life either in countryside or in London. The action is confined to the personal involvement of the particular main characters with ] There is a touch of countryside rusticity or the genteel vices of London. key pg 95

Touch of Epic genteel

Fielding’s familiarity with the Greek and Latin poets, historians and critics played a considerable part in forming his conception of the novel as comic epic.

His burlesques of Homer and his flippant/frivolous references to Aristotle show his attitude toward them is of respect and good-natured amusement. E.M. Thornbury in his book ‘Henry Fielding’s Theory of the Comic Prose Epic’ establishes a parallel between the basic plot of the Odyssey and Joseph Andrews. The Plot of The Odyssey can be reduced to a very simple struggle as a man, due to the displeasure of Poseiden, has great hardships in getting home to his demoralized country. It resembles to the plot of Joseph Andrews reduced as the simple skeleton plot that a man, having incurred the displesasure of a lady his superior in rank and power, tries to go home, meets with many misfortunes on the way, when he, happily brought out of his difficulties, arrives his home, the lady and his people trying to thwart his happiness.

The two tales, the story of Leonara and the History of Mr. Wilson, it seems irrelevant tales but they are interpolated according to the formula of epic. Epic writers used to do these type of embellishments/digressions. As well as they have got there own thematic parallel.

In addition Fielding makes use of the formula of discovery as outlined by the Aristotle when the mystery of Fanny’s parentage is being straightened out. And Joseph is recognized as the child of Mr. Wilson by the birthmark which he bears on his chest. At this point Fielding refers specifically to Oedipus under similar circumstances. The author having Greek sources of this practice (makes use of this old device of discovery for bringing about a reversal of time) clearly in his mind.

Then the comparison of the lecherous Slipslop to a “hungry Tygress” is a satirical version of the Homeric simile; Homer’s epic poems employ many of these highly detailed similes, often comparing valiant warriors to predatory animals. While Homer used this technique to exalt the heroic actors in his tales, Fielding uses elevated diction and “low” subject to poke fun at his characters. “As when a hungry Tygress, who long had traversed the Woods in fruitless search, sees within the Reach of her Claws a Lamb, she prepared to leap on her Prey; or as a voracious Pike, of immense Size, surveys through the liquid Element a Roach or Gudgeon which cannot escape her Jaws, opens them wide to swallow the little Fish: so did Mrs. Slipslop prepare to lay her violent amorous Hands on the poor Joseph.”
This passage, which refers to Slipslop’s lustful attempt on Joseph in London, is a good example of Fielding’s use of mock-epic diction. Sometimes, as here, the character and action are sordid/low and the humor is somewhat harsh and satirical but at other times, as when Fielding renders the epic battle of Joseph and Parson Adams with the Hunter’s hounds, the character and action are low in class status but good and honorable, and the humor is warmer and more indulgent.

In numerous other ways also, Joseph Andrews tries to follow the principles of the Epic structure. For instance, the famous battle between the hounds on one side and Joseph and Parson Adams on the other side. Described as broad comedy, but with the form of a serious conflict in which our sympathies are engaged.

At one point, Parson Adams flees away, Fielding says,

“If there be any modern man so outrageously brave that he cannot admit of flight in any circumstances without whatever, I say, (but I whisper that softly, and I solemnly declare without any intention of giving offence to any brave man in the nation). I say or rather I whisper, that he is ignorant fellow, and hath never read Homer nor Virgil, nor Knows he anything of Hector or Turnus.”

In other words, Feilding implies that he has adapted a scene from the Illaid and from the Aeneid to the purpose of his comic epic. Its interesting that though he is clear in his mind with an epic formula and he even reveals that but a common reader is unaware of it.

Setting Magnificient Moral Aim For His Epic
In addition to affectation, he has given a great deal of space in the novel to ‘Vices, and of a very black Kind’ Vices, which inspire moral aversion rather than amusement, are not the stuff of comedy. Fielding acknowledges the presence of vices in his story with the fact that they are not very potent, “never producing the intended Evil.” Quoting his belief from the preface,
"Great vices are the proper objects of our detestation, smaller faults, of our pity; but affectation appears to me the only true source of the ridiculous." means that he has magnified their minute follies through magnification glass. So they could think over it and get rid of them….. This is how he progresses beyond a mere criticism of the ‘ridiculous’ to a positive statement and portrayal of the values in which he believed.. Behind his frivolous tone we found a strict moral responsiblity, as he gives a mildly satirical, ridicule.

• Fielding condemns hypocrisy and revolts against the puritan code of the age that considered respectability/decency synonymous with virtue. • Fielding did not showcase basic virtues exclusively in his characters, but he showed the vices of mankind as well. He believes that the characters are neither wholly good nor wholly bad and that man is naturally inclined to goodness. • Moreover, he is indulgent /lenient with regard to the sins of sex since they are, in his way of thinking, not as serious as sins against feelings. • He embeds high moral themes within the novel. The main theme (the difference between town and country life we have discussed before e.g. The theme of charity is once defined as, “Whoever therefore is void of Charity, I make no scruple of pronouncing that he is no Christian.”Mr. Adams makes this declaration during his argument with Parson Trulliber over the true nature of Christianity and the duties of a Christian. Trulliber, like Parson Barnabas, contrasts with Adams in preaching that faith is sufficient for salvation without good works; Adams, meanwhile, preaches very nearly the opposite doctrine: as he says in another important passage, “a virtuous and good Turk, or Heathen, are more acceptable in the sight of their Creator than a vicious and wicked Christian, though his Faith was as perfectly orthodox as St. Paul’s himself.” St. Paul himself was presumably on Fielding’s mind when he penned Adams’s declaration to Trulliber, as the line seems to echo Corinthians: “and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”
Another example is theme of vices, the cause of which according to foundlings of Parson Adams are Public schools or the Universities of that time. As he made a wise saying to Joseph, “I have found it; I have discovered the cause of all the misfortunes which befell him(Wilson). A public school, Joseph, was the cause of all the calamaties which he afterwards suffered. Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality”. In Book III, he states that his purpose is "to hold the glass to thousands in their closets, that they may contemplate their deformity, and endeavour to reduce it."
We can say that he had very high notions of his purpose of writing the novel. He never thought it merely a source of entertainment. He imbued it seriously with a moral purpose and found novel fit vehicle for profoundly influencing human thought and behaviour.
Fielding own words from Joseph Andrews in which he had revealed his ambition for writing is to probe his readers to think:

"It hath been thought a vast commendation of a painter to say his figures seem to breathe; but surely it is a much greater and nobler applause, that they appear to think."

Real life or Daily Life Experiences
Fielding claims that all the characters of the novel are drawn from life and that he has made certain alterations in order to obscure their true identities.
Fielding explains in Book I, Chapter I the moral utility of the novel “It is a trite but true Observation, that Examples work more forcibly on the Mind than Precepts.” means that the novel has this advantage over sermons and works of moral philosophy, that it can embody virtue in the real life of exemplary characters, thereby “inspiring our Imitation” of virtue rather than merely enjoining it.—“Everything is copied from nature and scarce a character or action produced which I have not taken from my own experience”. An Epic,s theme revaeals universal truths. The Comic epic writer reveals the basic truths of human nature n a ridiculous way no matter when K108

Humanized Ordinary Characters Near to Real life

His Depiction On human nature and all the Classes of Society

Critics of contemporary society such as William Hazlitt greatly appreciated its resemblance to the authenticity of nature expressed in persons of various social standings throughout the novel. He quotes about Fielding, "As a painter of real life, he was equal to Hogarth; as a mere observer of human nature, he was little inferior to Shakespeare"
By accurately depicting the nature of people, Feilding enabled his readers to acquire knowledge on the customs and culture of English society through clear descriptions of its inhabitants and circumstances. Hazlitt further wrote, "I should be at a loss where to find in any authentic documents of the same period so satisfactory an account of the general state of society, and of moral, political, and religious feeling in the reign of George II as we meet with in the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his friend Mr. Abraham Adams"
Considering Fanny Goodwill, like all of Fielding’s heroines, we found that she is beautiful. She seems palpable and accessible rather than remote and ethereal, and such naturalistic “imperfections” as her sunburn set off her appeal. “Her Complexion was fair, a little injured by the Sun, but overspread with such a Bloom, that the finest Ladies would have exchanged all their White for it: add to these, a Countenance in which tho’ she was extremely bashful, a Sensibility appeared almost incredible; and a Sweetness, whenever she smiled, beyond either Imitation or Description.”
However, Fielding is careful, to specify that Fanny’s attractions are not merely physical and sexual: her ‘Sensibility’ and ‘Sweetness’ somehow manifest themselves corporally and render the proper appreciation of her appearance not just of physical impulses but of the moral faculty. Fielding’s mention of her ‘extreme bashfulness’ is congruous with the role of potential rape victim that she plays repeatedly throughout the novel. It was often said that Henry Fielding's greatest achievements in his novel Joseph Andrews were his depictions of human nature as it existed in all levels of society; he showed the nature of not only his own social class but of all social classes. Consider the incident of the poor Postilion’s lending Joseph his coat when the fastidious coach passengers would prefer to leave him to die naked in a ditch is perhaps the most famous illustration of hypocrisy in all of Fielding. “[I]t is more than probable, poor Joseph, who obstinately adhered to his modest Resolution, must have perished, unless the Postilion, (a lad who hath been since transported for robbing a Hen-roost) had voluntarily stript off a great Coat, his only Garment, at the time swearing a great Oath, (for which he was rebuked by the Passengers) ‘That he would rather ride in his Shirt all his Life, than suffer a Fellow-Creature to lie in so miserable a Condition.”
Here the Postilion shames his “betters” by acting charitably despite his modest means. In addition to exposing the hypocrisy of the passengers, this incident also touches on Joseph’s virtue, which verges on prudishness: he is so “modest” that he would not approach the ladies in the coach while naked, even if it costs him his life.
It also alludes to ‘the parable of the Good Samaritan’, in which respectable passersby, including a priest, refuse to help a waylaid/trapped Jewish traveller until finally a Samaritan, member of a despised class, stops to clothe the traveller and tend his wounds;------- like the Samaritan before him

The main character of Mr. Abraham Adams(Is he the hero of the Epic?)

At the time the novel was published, the most profound contention that arose between critics was the character of Parson Adams; He is markedly the most developed character in the novel as in the Epic the main character is.

Adams is the absent-minded friend and mentor to Joseph Andrews. Fielding introduces Parson Adams, the novel’s great innocent character, concisely and with judicious reference to the weaknesses that temper his virtues

“He was generous, friendly and brave to an Excess; but Simplicity was his characteristic.”
Fielding constructed his personality carefully and his generosity, friendliness, and bravery appear to be tied to one another. Adam’s bravery is excessive , however, he does not regulate it with sensibility(prudence/good sense. according to Fielding’s moral scheme the benevolence and simplicity is the only true expression of goodness.

[He exhibits virtuous traits such as honesty, wisdom, piety and unselfishness as well as the fiendish/unpleasant traits of vanity and hypocrisy. These contradictory attributes in his personage are the basis for arguments surrounding his character. In response to the antagonistic opinions of readers concerning Mr. Adams, Sarah Fielding wrote, "Nor less understood is the character of parson Adams in Joseph Andrews, by those persons, who, fixing their thoughts on the hounds trailing the bacon in his pocket (with some oddness in his behavior, and peculiarities in his dress) think proper to overlook the noble simplicity of his mind, with the other innumerable beauties of his character".. The great simplicity and benevolence of ‘the curate Mr. Abraham Adams’ is according to Fielding as he mentions in his preface, a credit to clothe (though he participates in a number of low incidents). This is how Fielding pacifies his clerical readers.]

In a letter to Lady Henrietta Luxborough, William Shenstone wrote, "I see no Character yet is near so striking as Mr. Abraham Adams. That was an original, I think; unattempted before & yet so natural most people seem'd to know Man" He describes how Fielding presented everyday people in his novel Joseph Andrews that the average reader could recognize in their own interactions with society. Fielding's created a parallel between (his work) and reality.

Deviation from epic to Fiction
Although Fielding's description of his work as a "comic epic in prose" and in his preface, Fielding is careful to disassociate himself from the "productions of romance writers", yet it was criticized that the end of Joseph Andrews, with its accounts of gypsies and changeling babies, has certain elements of the fairy tale come true. In fact, Fielding's achievement is to superimpose this positive act of imagination on the raw material of the very real world.
His achievement, in Samuel Johnson's words, "(Joseph Andrews) may be termed, not improperly, the comedy of romance, and is to be conducted nearly by the rules of comic poetry, (terms remarkably similar to Fielding's own). This comedy of romance requires”, Johnson claims, "together with that learning which is to be gained from books, that experience which can never be attained by solitary diligence, but must arise from general converse and accurate observation of the living world." It is this combination of the raw and the refined, of the real and the ideal, which Fielding has created in his "comic epic in prose."[pic] (Though Johnson’s concern of romance could also be justified by the definition of novel, given in the introduction that novel is deeply rooted in romance and it contains fiction as its actual component.)
CONCLUSION
Hence, we conclude that Joseph Andrews is a work of “Comic Epic in Prose” or Prose Fiction with the elements of comedy, epic, and romance. It is epic in length and in variety of incidents; the quest format of the plot is typical of both epic and romance, as are the many Quixotic battles and adventures and the hero’s love motive. Fielding presents his characters comically in that they are primarily “low” characters whom he has drawn from everyday life rather than idealizing them; though his “Sentiments and Diction” are humorous, however, he does not mock or travesty his characters, as in burlesque, but preserves their humanity. The burlesque differs from comedy in that it displays “monstrous” characters and vices that do not occur in real life; Fielding rejects it because his aim is to use humor constructively by exposing real-life failings.

Personal comments
While studying for assignment, I came across material which I would like to summarize and publicize:

Joseph Andrews in relation to three other books:
1) Pamela
Fielding's dissatisfaction with Richardson's novel Pamela, subtitled Virtue Rewarded. He shows contrast of morality by virtue in peril and despised, i.e. daring and unconditional love has to face difficulties and is not rewarded worldly, only in fiction. (Book 3, ch. 11)

Joseph Andrews also has a contrast with Pamela in terms of form (narrative/epistolary), plot and characterization.

2) Cervantes, Don Quixote

(a)both have episodic structure, held together by: • main characters. • general themes. • narrative voice. (b)similarities in producing irony and parody, especially through:

(1)the innocence of the heroes (Don Quixote and Parson Adams). (2)attractiveness of the heroes contrasted with most other characters. (3)dual heroes: Don + Sancho = Adams + Joseph . Useful for debating issues, varying illustrations, broadening scope (since Joseph young, Adams older man with family, etc.).
Parody in Don Quixote not only exposes but also questions ways of apprehending the world.
3) The Bible significance of names (Joseph as Yousuf, Abraham as Ibrahim)

Symbolically, Joseph’s character in the novel resembles with the characteristics of the Old Testament Joseph or Yousuf (peace be upon him ) such as the black hair and eyes and most famous for his coat of many colours. The link between them is the virtue and the great handsomeness. Both of them have mistresses who are lusty, adulterous women and unstable emotionally. Both are reduced to the humblest circumstances (Andrews is robbed and beaten), yet their virtue and righteousness provide them with the strength to continue to a better situation than previously enjoyed. Both Josephs are separated from their homes and families and work as servants, where both distinguish themselves through their outstanding character. The biblical Joseph is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, whereas the novel's Joseph has only a sister. She is famous for her virtue and also jealous.
In addition, there is an explicit similarity between lady Boovy's character and the Aziz's wife, as they try to seduce Joseph/Yousuf although they are married or socialized.
Also, there is a similarity between Abraham Adams's character and prophet's father Abraham or Ibrahim (peace be upon him). Abraham Adams is the spiritual father of all the sons of the parish and Abraham is the spiritual father of all prophets, presents one of the most powerful and memorable prophets of sacred books. He received extensive revelations and is remembered for his humility and faith.

For final words I would like to quote Fielding own words from Joseph Andrews in which he had revealed his ambition for writing is to probe his readers to think:

"It hath been thought a vast commendation of a painter to say his figures seem to breathe; but surely it is a much greater and nobler applause, that they appear to think."

YAsmeenAZizjaffer

References

A Critical Study of Joseph Andrews by Rajinder Paul,University of Delhi.

Joseph Andrew and Pamela in Twentieth Century (Views on Fielding)by Maynard Mack.

The English Novel by Walter Allen.

Fielding and the Nature of the Novel by Robert Alter.

The Novels of Fielding by Aurelien Digeon.

"Joseph Andrews"

academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/.../andrews.html

British Literature Wiki - Critical Responses to Joseph Andrews britlitwiki.wikispaces.com/Critical+Responses+to+Joseph+Andrews "Joseph Andrews" as a Social Satire http://tanvirdhaka.blogspot.com/2009/10/joseph-andrews-as-social-satire.html Fielding's Comic Prose Epithalamium in "Joseph Andrews": A - JULY ...

by IN Rothman - 1998 - Related articles

www.jstor.org/stable/3736486 -

Joseph Andrews: Comic Epic Poem in Prose

http://engliterarium.blogspot.com/2009/02/joseph-andrews-comic-epic-poem-in-prose.html

Character analysis: Joseph Andrews, by Henry Fielding

by Keri Withington

Literary analysis: Racism in Joseph Andrews, by Henry Fielding by Keri Withington

www.helium.com/... -joseph-andrews-by-henry-fielding

Henry Fielding - Wikiquote Quotes Joseph Andrews (1742)

en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Fielding

Henry Fielding Quotes www.notable-quotes.com/f/fielding_hen Joseph Andrews Quotes | GradeSaver

www.gradesaver.com/joseph-andrews/study-guide/quotes/
Quotes:Title and Name Text Searches

www.englitterati.blogspot.com/2007/05/jos

themes in joseph andrews

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Joseph Andrews

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The Rise of the Novel Joseph Andrews: by Henry Fielding faculty.ksu.edu.sa/drmsabha/.../week3. Precept, property, and "bourgeois" practice in 'Joseph Andrews ... www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20190144.html -

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