EPISTOLARY NOVELS IN PRESENT CONTEXT

Epistolary became a popular genre all over Europe during 18 Century. Henry Fielding wrote a pamphlet anonymously “An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews” (1741) to ridicule the Pamela. His most famous work “The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams” begins as burlesque, but soon takes a form of “comic epic poem in prose”. This is supposed to be first authentic novel of English, despite the work of Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift and Richardson. Walter Scott called Henry Fielding the “Father of The English Novels” due to the theories given by Fielding in the forward of his novels Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones and Amelia.