Friday we discussed Tom Jones by Henry Fielding in my Restoration & 18th Century Literature seminar. This professor is really excellent. Very energetic, great sense of humor, and very knowledgeable. I had only read 130 or so of the 850 page book, but I admitted it. The pages I had read, however, I had taken notes and highlighted citations, so I was able to keep up and contribute.

I was aided considerably by having watched the 1960s version of the film with my parents. It was the last thing I did before I left for my freshman year of college.

It truly is amazing how ahead of its time it was as a book, and how the narrator’s voice seems scattered and absent-minded, yet every little detail, and every way of presenting information itself is a hint or serves a purpose. The amount of comedy cannot be understated either. I found myself laughing out loud at several points.

The most quotable sound bite of the discussion is as follows:
“Most English novels written before 1960 wouldn’t work if there had been paternity tests.”