Amelia is a sentimental novel written by Henry Fielding and published in December It was the fourth and final novel written by Fielding, and it was printed in only one edition while the author was alive, although 5, copies were published of the first edition.
Amelia follows the life of Amelia and Captain William Booth after they are married. It contains many allusions to classical författare fielding and focuses on the theme of marriage and feminine intelligence, but Fielding's stance on gender issues cannot be determined because of the lack of authorial commentary discussing the matter.
Although the novel received praise from many writers and critics, it received more criticism from Fielding's competition, possibly resulting from the "paper war" in which the author was involved. Fielding began writing Amelia in the autumn of He turned to his own life for inspiration, and the main character, Amelia, was possibly modelled on Fielding's first wife, Charlotte, who died in November Likewise, Omvärld och vardag hero, Captain Booth, was partly modelled after Fielding himself, as well as on the author's father, General Edmund Fielding, famous for his careless management of his family's money.
It has recently been argued that, on account of his name and the dramatic nature of the character itself, Billy Booth also owes a debt to Barton Booth, a famous tragic actor of the early eighteenth century. Millar ordered William Strahan to print the work on two of his printing presses to produce a total of 5, copies for the first run of the work in comparison, only 3, copies of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling were printed for the first and second edition.
This amount proved to be enough for Millar to sell, although he had to back down from a second printing of 3, copies immediately after the first edition to ensure that the originals were completely sold. The work had two German translations published ina Dutch translation inand a French edition in It finally went into a second edition in However, this edition was posthumous and in Millar's Works of Henry Fielding.
In the prefatory essay, the Works editor, Arthur Murphy, claimed that " Ameliain this edition, is printed from a copy corrected by the author's own hand. The exceptionable passages, which inadvertency had thrown out, are here retrenched; and the work, upon the whole, will be found nearer perfection than it was in its original state.
Amelia is a domestic novel taking place largely in London during It describes the hardships suffered by a young couple newly married. Against her mother's wishes, Amelia marries Captain William Booth, a dashing young army officer.
The couple run away to London. During this time, it is revealed that Amelia was in a carriage accident and that her nose was ruined. Although this brings about jokes at Amelia's expense, Booth refuses to regard her as anything but beautiful.
Amelia, by contrast, resists the attentions paid to her by several men in William's absence and stays faithful to him. She forgives his transgression, but William soon draws them into trouble again as he accrues gambling debts trying to lift the couple out of poverty.
He soon finds himself in debtors' prison.