The real-life Jonathan Wild, gangland godfather and self-styled "Thieftaker General," controlled much of the London underworld until he was executed for his crimes in 1725. Even during his lifetime his achievements attracted attention; after his death balladeers sang of his exploits, and satirists made connections between his success and the triumph of corruption in high places. Fielding built on these narratives to produce one of the greatest sustained satires in the English language. Published in 1743, at a time when the ...
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The real-life Jonathan Wild, gangland godfather and self-styled "Thieftaker General," controlled much of the London underworld until he was executed for his crimes in 1725. Even during his lifetime his achievements attracted attention; after his death balladeers sang of his exploits, and satirists made connections between his success and the triumph of corruption in high places. Fielding built on these narratives to produce one of the greatest sustained satires in the English language. Published in 1743, at a time when the modern novel had yet to establish itself as a fixed literary form, Jonathan Wild is at the same time a brilliant black comedy, an incisive political satire, and a profoundly serious exploration of human "greatness" and "goodness," as relevant today as it ever was.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New York. 1962. January 1962. Signet/New American Library. Reprinted Signet Classic Paperback Edition. Very Good in Wrappers. 0451510690. Foreword by J. H. Plumb. 222 pages. paperback. CY1069. Cover art: Milton Glaser. keywords: Signet Classic Paperback England Literature 18th Century. FROM THE PUBLISHER-The outrages that Jonathan Wild commits against the simple, virtuous Heartfree epitomize one of the most villainous but memorably comic figures in literature. Wild is methodically evil: his thefts and vices, violence and grand deceptions, are merely steppingstones in his progress toward ‘greatness. ' In writing about this sublime blackguard, Henry Fielding drew on his knowledge of London's Gin Lane, where he served as magistrate, on legends surrounding an actual archcriminal, and on the figure of the King's minister, Sir Robert Walpole, that nemesis whom Pope, Swift, and Gay lampooned in their greatest works. Jonathan Wild is perhaps the Enlightenment's most ironic pageant of corruption-the book in which Fielding's dormant theme that ‘greatness' and ‘goodness' have no part in each other gleams with polished bitterness and gallows humor. inventory #29652.
