Joseph Andrews Vol 1

Joseph Andrews, Volume 1 is the first volume of Henry Fielding’s first full length novel, originally published in 1742. The full title, The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr Abraham Adams, gives some sense of the novel’s character. It is one of the founding works of the English novel and the book in which Fielding first established the method that would carry his subsequent fiction.

The novel began as a parody of Samuel Richardson’s enormously successful Pamela of 1740, with Joseph Andrews presented as the brother of Pamela. The opening chapters maintain this parodic relation, with Joseph as a virtuous young footman whose chastity is being aggressively pursued by his wealthy mistress Lady Booby in scenes that explicitly mirror and invert the situations of Richardson’s novel. Joseph’s resistance to Lady Booby and his eventual dismissal from her household set the basic plot in motion.

The novel quickly outgrew its original parodic purpose. Joseph sets out on the road to find his sweetheart Fanny and is accompanied by the wonderful figure of Parson Abraham Adams, a country clergyman of enormous learning and even greater innocence who becomes the actual centre of the novel. Adams is one of the great creations of eighteenth century English fiction, combining classical erudition with practical naivety in a combination that gives Fielding endless comic possibilities while also serving as a quiet moral standard against which the various corrupt or affected figures encountered along the road can be measured.

The first volume covers the early stages of the journey, including the initial dismissal of Joseph from Lady Booby’s household, the meeting with Parson Adams, and the various adventures of the road including encounters with innkeepers, country gentlemen, highwaymen, and the various social types that mid eighteenth century English rural life offered Fielding for his satirical purposes.

The novel runs to four full volumes in the original edition. For readers wanting to approach Fielding, Joseph Andrews is the recommended starting point alongside Tom Jones. It is shorter than Tom Jones and slightly more accessible, with the figure of Parson Adams providing a comic warmth that runs through the entire work. The volume pairs naturally with the rest of the novel and with Fielding’s other works.