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A review by sherwoodreads
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
One of those books that changes over the decades. It was especially interesting to read now given how many mentions of it show up in novels over the past two hundred years, and how many well-respected writers talk fondly about its light-heartedness, its mildness, its being the quintessential English domestic novel.
On this (very spoilery!) reading, I picked up how very tongue in cheek Goldsmith wrote, satirizing class and social climbing and the real meaning of posh manners as well as town/country, women and fashion, the haphazard (and greed-driven) state of schools and ecclesiastical learning at upper levels. Son George's interview for becoming a schoolmaster will make every teacher laugh and wince.
And yet it wasn't all that light-hearted. The riff about prison reform could be published today, with regrettably few emendations. The auctioning off of daughters is a grim reminder of the fact that marriage between a man and a woman not so long ago was anything but holy. This is especially true at the end, when everyone is celebrating a thorough-going scoundrel and possibly serial rapist finding out his marriage is real, yay, the money is safe! The idea that this book was given to youngsters to read for a couple of centuries would raise eyebrows now, notwithstanding all the hardcore stuff seen on tv and film to which kids are exposed.
It's also a fascinating look at how the novel was developing. Goldsmith was riffing off Sterne's recent runaway bestseller, Tristram Shandy, and also taking a leaf from Tom Jones in his rambunctiously coincidence-driven plotting. The excursions into manners, the poetry and fantasy storytelling, the sermonizing and satire all reflect popular tropes of the time. Completely unexamined--indeed reinforced--was the idea that women were not expected to have any agency because they needed male guidance in all things. Willful women invariably came to no good.
It's short, and quick read, and full of eighteenth century views, but a cozy domestic novel? With the sons almost burning to death, a daughter believed to be dead after her betrayal, the thievery and so forth? Not my idea of cozy at all, in spite of everybody on stage grinning at their happy endings. Interesting, yes, cozy, no.
On this (very spoilery!) reading, I picked up how very tongue in cheek Goldsmith wrote, satirizing class and social climbing and the real meaning of posh manners as well as town/country, women and fashion, the haphazard (and greed-driven) state of schools and ecclesiastical learning at upper levels. Son George's interview for becoming a schoolmaster will make every teacher laugh and wince.
And yet it wasn't all that light-hearted. The riff about prison reform could be published today, with regrettably few emendations. The auctioning off of daughters is a grim reminder of the fact that marriage between a man and a woman not so long ago was anything but holy. This is especially true at the end, when everyone is celebrating a thorough-going scoundrel and possibly serial rapist finding out his marriage is real, yay, the money is safe! The idea that this book was given to youngsters to read for a couple of centuries would raise eyebrows now, notwithstanding all the hardcore stuff seen on tv and film to which kids are exposed.
It's also a fascinating look at how the novel was developing. Goldsmith was riffing off Sterne's recent runaway bestseller, Tristram Shandy, and also taking a leaf from Tom Jones in his rambunctiously coincidence-driven plotting. The excursions into manners, the poetry and fantasy storytelling, the sermonizing and satire all reflect popular tropes of the time. Completely unexamined--indeed reinforced--was the idea that women were not expected to have any agency because they needed male guidance in all things. Willful women invariably came to no good.
It's short, and quick read, and full of eighteenth century views, but a cozy domestic novel? With the sons almost burning to death, a daughter believed to be dead after her betrayal, the thievery and so forth? Not my idea of cozy at all, in spite of everybody on stage grinning at their happy endings. Interesting, yes, cozy, no.