The Second Edition of this Norton Critical Edition of Fielding’s great novel reprints the definitive fourth edition text (1749, dated 1750), "Carefully revis’d and corrected/By Henry Fielding, Esq;", the last in his lifetime.
The novel is fully annotated for undergraduate readers and is accompanied by a Textual Appendix and a map depicting Tom’s route to London.
As in the previous edition, "Contemporary Reactions" by such noteworthy commentators as Samuel Richardson, Samuel Johnson, and the Hill sisters provide rich historical context.
"Criticism" is a collection of fourteen interpretations of the novel spanning the years 1826–1990 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Forsyth, Kenneth Rexroth, R. S. Crane, John Preston, William Empson, Wayne C. Booth, Martin Battestin, Maaja A. Stewart, Eleanor N. Hutchens, Sean Shesgreen, Frederick W. Hilles, and Sheridan Baker.
A new Chronology and an updated Selected Bibliography are also included.
Sheridan Baker is Professor Emeritus of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan. He is the author of many works, including The Harper Handbook to Literature, Ernest Hemingway: An Introduction and Interpretation, The Complete Stylist, The Essayist, and The Practical Stylist. He is co-author of The Written Word and The Practical Imagination. He is currently at work on two volumes for the Wesleyan University Press’s Works of Fielding.
