Exam questions for the course “English Literature of the 17th-18th century

H.Fielding’s novel “Tom Jones, the Foundling ”

28.Compare Fielding’s theory of the novel (a comic epic in prose) to M. Bahtin’s ideas of
the origin of the novel.
29.What was Fielding’s concept of a provincial life in “Tom Jones”?
30.What was Fielding’s idea of education ?
31.Characterize Fielding’s ways to build up a comic narrative and his treatment of Evil in
the novel.
32.’Tom Jones” as a “novel of the road”: Tom’s adventures as the source of moral
education.
33.*Don Quixote by Cervantes as Fielding’s intertext in “Tom Jones”
34. Female stories as ‘her/stories’ Mrs.Fitzpatrick – Sofia – Nancy Miller
35.London extraordinary and/or conventional: the new world lost and found for “Tom
Jones” characters.
36.*What is your idea of ‘pro’ and ‘contra’of Tom’s and Sofia’s happy future?
37. What instruments to restore harmony did Fielding rely on in “Tom Jones”?
38. The Author as narrator: the aims of the Author’s interventions in the text.

Teacher’s comments for student’s self-control:

28. Find similar elements and different ones.
29. Please take into consideration most social strata, no only Mr.Allworthy’s and Squire
Western’s households.
30. Elders as moral example; teachers as keepers of wisdom; experience as the best teacher?
You may choose either one aspect for your argument and dwell on it in details or use 2 or all 3
in a concise answer.
32. You may compare the motive of adventure in Fielding’s novel and in Defoe’s/ Swift’s text.
33. What character reminds us of Don Quixote? of Sancho Pansa?
34. NB! The term “her/story” is a pun made of “his/tory” = history. It has been introduced by
feminist criticism of the 20th c/, to stress that most of the texts in classical European Literature were
devoted to male rather than female stories. The English writers of the mid-century such as
S.Richardson, H.Fielding (!!!), O.Goldsmith radically changed the plots by introducing different kinds
of female characters in their novels.
As in 30. – you may choose either one aspect for your argument and dwell on it in details or
use 2 or all 3 in a concise answer
35. “The new world lost and found” is a critical metaphor. Think about Tom, Sofia, even
Mr.Nightingale You are free to choose 1 example to interpret it or dwell on 2.
36. A question for 10 points: the way to express your personal reaction – a reader’s response.
37. Moral education, chance, the author’s will? A question not only about the writer’s ways to
give the reader a message – why did the Enlightenment novelists were so keen to restore the harmony
in the conflicts they described?