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Information about Shamela

An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews
AuthorHenry Fielding
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Satire/Parody
PublisherA. Dodd
Publication dateApril 1741
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBNNA


An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews, or Shamela, as it is more commonly known, is a satirical novel written by Henry Fielding and first published in April 1741 under the name of Mr. Conny Keyber (Fielding never owned to writing the work but it is widely considered to be his.[1]). It is a direct attack at the then very popular novel Pamela (November 1740) by Fielding's contemporary and rival, Samuel Richardson and composed, just like Pamela, in an epistolary form.

Publishing History

Shamela was originally published anonymously on 4 April 1741 and sold for one shilling and sixpence. A second edition came out on 3 November that same year which was partly reimpressed and partly reset where emendations were made. A pirated edition printed in Dublin in 1741 as well. Reprint editions have subsequently appeared as texts for academic study.[2]

Plot summary

Shamela is written as a shocking revelation of the true events which took place in the life of Pamela Andrews, the main heroine of Pamela. From Shamela we learn that, instead of being a kind, humble, and chaste servant-girl, Pamela (whose true name turns out to be Shamela) is in fact a wicked and lascivious creature, scheming to entrap her master, Squire Booby, into marriage. In this way Fielding exposes the multiple weaknesses of Richardson's work, and has a good laugh at them too, although recent criticism has explored the ways in which 'Pamela' in fact dramatizes its own weaknesses, in which context Fielding's work may be seen as a development of possibilities already encoded in Richardson's work, rather than a simple attack (see, for instance, Thomas Keymer). Another novel by Fielding parodying "Pamela", albeit not so explicitly, is The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his Friend, Mr. Abraham Adams (February 1742) more commonly known as Joseph Andrews.



Footnotes

1. ^ Judith Hawley 'Note on the text' in Joseph Andrews and Shamela. London: Penguin Books. 1999.
2. ^ Judith Hawley 'Note on the text' in Joseph Andrews and Shamela. London: Penguin Books. 1999.
Henry Fielding

Pseudonym: "Captain Hercules Vinegar", also some works published anonymously
Born: March 22 1707(1707--)
Sharpham, Somerset, England
Died: September 8 1754 (aged 47)
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In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity, a sovereign territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation and government.
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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See Language (journal) for the linguistics journal.


A language is a system of symbols and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.
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English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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Satire (from Latin satura, not from the Greek mythological figure satyr[1]) is a literary genre, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision,
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In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject.
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Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers.
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A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather).
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Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The book covers of such books are without cloth or leather, and are bound, usually, with glue rather than stitches or staples.
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International Standard Book Number, ISBN, is a unique[1] commercial book identifier barcode. The ISBN system was created in the United Kingdom, in 1966, by the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith.
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Satire (from Latin satura, not from the Greek mythological figure satyr[1]) is a literary genre, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision,
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novel (from, Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new", "news", or "short story of something new") is today a long prose narrative set out in writing.
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Henry Fielding

Pseudonym: "Captain Hercules Vinegar", also some works published anonymously
Born: March 22 1707(1707--)
Sharpham, Somerset, England
Died: September 8 1754 (aged 47)
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2007 April >>
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Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded

Richardson's Pamela (1740-1)
Author Samuel Richardson
Country England
Language English
Genre(s) Epistolary novel
Publisher Messrs Rivington & Osborn
Publication date 1740
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Samuel Richardson (August 19, 1689 – July 4, 1761) was a major English, 18th century writer best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748) and Sir Charles Grandison
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epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents", such as blogs and e-mails have also come into use.
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Joseph Andrews

Author Henry Fielding
Country Britain
Language English
Genre(s) Picaresque, romance
Publisher Andrew Millar, The Strand, London
Publication date 1742

Joseph Andrews, or
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