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Product Description
Oliver Goldsmith's hugely successful novel of 1766 remained for generations one of the most highly regarded and beloved works of eighteenth-century fiction. It depicts the fall and rise of the Primrose family, presided over by the benevolent vicar, the narrator of a fairy-tale plot of impersonation and deception, the abduction of a beautiful heroine and the machinations of an aristocratic villain. By turns comic and sentimental, the novel's popularity owes much to its recognizable depiction of domestic life and loving family relationships.
New to this edition is an introduction by Robert L. Mack that examines the reasons for the novels enduring popularity, as well as the critical debates over whether it is a straightforward novel of sentiment or a satire on the social and economic inequalities of the period and the very literary conventions and morality it seems to embody. This edition also includes a new, up-to-date bibliography and expanded notes, and contains reprints of Arthur Friedman's authoritative Oxford English Novels text of the corrected first edition of 1766.
Customer Review: only oliver goldsmith you'll ever read?
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Hey more 18th century English literature!
This book has one big advantage: It's super short- like 200 pages of regular text. It is so, so much easier to read then any of the other books I've read from this period. This is also the only book you will ever read by Oliver Goldsmith. Sorry- it's true. Goldsmith is a kind of Dickensian character- graduated last in his class at Trinity in Dublin, failed as a writer. Luckily he was buddies with Samuel Johnson- it was his intervention that got Vicar published after a two year delay. It was only 10 or so years before he died. He was just a miserable cat, but Vicar of Wakefield has endured, perhaps because of his kind of "celebrity"- an early Kurt Cobain type, but without the suicide.
The story is about a Vicar who loses all his money and has to move to the sticks, where his elder daughter is seduced by the rakish land lord. The Vicar defies the landlord's attempt to prostitute his daughter, and ends up in prison, only to be freed by the villainous landlord's noble Uncle- who had been pretending to be someone else for the whole novel! Typical 18th century plot twist- the appearance of characters in different roles. Can this not be linked to the practice of the theater, where cast members would re appear.
As I said, it reads fast- maybe three hours tops if you just sit down with it. It's a "minor classic."
Customer Review: a spoof on sentimentalist fiction
I have, in a way, two completely separate reviews for this novel, with two completely different rankings. As a serious novel it gets one star; as a comic novel it gets four. I have gone with the four-star ranking because I have very little doubt of which it is.
If this book was in fact written as a serious panegyric upon the glories and virtues of the simple, holy life, and the blessings that come to those who persevere in the face of adversity, it is the most consummate tripe. The characters are caricatures, the emotions farcical, the plot lines banal. Primrose (the narrator) is a fool, and a particularly pretentious and self-righteous one. The women in the novel should make any self-respecting woman cringe. The tireless soliloquies on economics, politics and religion make you unwittingly begin to skim. I will take Wittgenstein's advice and just pass over the ending in silence. Think Danielle Steele in a more obscure vernacular, but worse. (Yes, that's right, worse.)
Thankfully, it's not serious (or, at least, I am almost certain that it isn't). As a comic novel it comes off kind of like a Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker movie about a Jane Austen novel. The beauty of it is, however, is that it's so deadpan, it's so subtle in its irony, that for the first eighty pages I really thought it was sincere - albeit terrible. I won't go into the plot details as most of you probably don't want someone to spoil the plot for you, and the rest can easily find it succinctly traced out by my fellow reviewers. I will say that it's a Book-of-Job-style parable, and one of the most complete and believable satires I've ever read.
(I will add, just to give my review some perspective, that I love 18th century British literature, Fielding and Sterne in particular. In other words, my opinion has not been overtly colored by an ignorance of either the genre or the writing styles of the period. At least, I hope not.)
Customer Review: "I . . . chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but such qualities as would wear well."
Told with a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humor and wit, The Vicar of Wakefield, published in 1766, features the delightfully innocent Dr. Primrose, a cleric who believes that kindness and virtue will always be rewarded. Surrounded by his wife and six children, Dr. Primrose lives a comfortable life, but he becomes the victim of theft when his broker runs off with all his investments, leaving him penniless, just as his son George is about to be married. When George's marriage is canceled due to his lack of prospects, the family moves to the country, where Dr. Primrose becomes vicar of a rural church.
One disaster follows another, involving Dr. Primrose and his family. The poor but kind Mr. Burchell, who saved daughter Sophia from drowning and befriended the family, later shocks Dr. Primrose by slandering the daughters and ruining their chances to become companions to two women in London. The sale of the family's only horses to a trickster leaves them virtually penniless. His older daughter Olivia is abducted and "ruined." The house catches fire, and their landlord demands his rent, knowing that the family has nothing. No matter how outrageous the calamities (and those mentioned above are only a sample), Dr. Primrose insists on seeing the bright side, even when there is no bright side. Virtue and goodness, he is convinced, will always be rewarded.
Owing as much to eighteenth century satiric comedy as to the developing novel, the story of Dr. Primrose and his family satirizes the sentimentality of early novels, such as Pamela, while it makes use of sentimental devices to further its plot. Poking gentle fun at Dr. Primrose for his innocence, Goldsmith never mocks or belittles him. Coincidence, mistaken identities, the humiliation of all the villains, innumerable surprises, and the restoration of Dr. Primrose's fortunes lead to the "deserved" happiness of Dr. Primrose and his family in the conclusion. Virtue is indeed rewarded, and evil is indeed punished. A gentle novel filled with charm, The Vicar of Wakefield feels like a "lady's novel," one which lacks the bawdy excess of Fielding and the unique humor of Sterne, while never taking itself too seriously. n Mary Whipple
She Stoops to Conquer and Other Comedies (Oxford World's Classics)
Oliver Goldsmith; a biography. By Washington Irving.
The poetical works of Oliver Goldsmith. With a life, by Thomas Babington Macaulay.
Customer Review: The Vicar is a Swell Guy!
"Now," cried I, holding up my children, "now let the flames burn on, and all my possessions perish. Here they are, I have saved my treasure. Here, my dearest, here are our treasures, and we shall yet be happy."
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a wonderful quick read about a man (family) over coming adversities in life, yet continuing to hold on to and cherish what is important in life. Dr. Primrose never becomes jaded after all that is thrown at him. Just when you think he can take no more, more is piled onto him. In the end, of course, all is well. While I wouldn't call the book exciting itself, there are exciting elements...kidnappings, death, cheating, and more. I enjoyed it so much because Dr. Primrose is truly a stand up guy and one we can all learn lessons from.
Customer Review: Sentimental but charming
Regarded by some as a sentimental novel, Oliver Goldsmith's "The Vicar of Wakefield" (1766) describes the fortunes and misfortunes of the first-person narrator, Dr. Primrose, along with his wife and six children. The narrative is chiefly concerned with a description of Primrose's increasing adversity and the final restoration and elevation of his condition, in a story-line reminiscent of the Biblical book of Job. First the Primrose family loses their fortune, their home is engulfed by a fire, and eventually Primrose himself finds himself in prison, one daughter reportedly dead, another abducted, and a son jailed. But all is in the end restored as the narrative returns to the idyllic life of the Primrose home and its inhabitants as described at the end of the first chapter: "In short, a family likeness prevailed through all, and properly speaking, they had but one character, that of being all equally generous, credulous, simple, and inoffensive." The circle is completed with the closing words of the final chapter: "As soon as dinner was over, according to my old custom, I requested that the table might be taken away, to have the pleasure of seeing all my family assembled once more by a cheerful fireside. My two little ones sat upon each knee, the rest of the company by their partners. I had nothing now on this side of the grave to wish for, all my cares were over, my pleasure was unspeakable. It now only remained that my gratitude in good fortune should exceed my former submission in adversity." Although Primrose is a vicar, his congregational and pastoral charge rarely comes into the picture, and it is more the events in this family circle that are the focus of his story.
In the face of more than abundant adversity, Primrose remains the eternal optimist, a sweet and naïve vicar who portrays himself unaffected by the worldliness and faults he sees in the lives of those around him. Nowhere is his naivete more evident than when he falls prey to the same deceptive character he has previously chastized his son for falling victim to. Yet Primrose remains blind to his own flawed character with its intellectual and spiritual pride. For example, when his half-dead son makes his entrance in the closing stages, Primrose affirms his own freedom from vanity, although the statement in which he makes this bold assertion suggests the opposite: "He now therefore entered, handsomely dressed in his regimentals; and without vanity (for I am above it), he appeared as handsome a fellow as ever wore a military dress."
While one must at times roll one's eyes at his excessive parade of virtue, the reader cannot help feel a strong measure of sympathy for his overly sweet character and good intentions. When his house burns down, rather than mourn the loss of his worldly possessions, he rejoices in the safety of his children: "'Now,' cried I, holding up my children, 'now let the flames burn on, and all my possessions perish. Here they are, I have saved my, treasure. Here, my dearest, here are our treasures, and we shall yet be happy.'" When misfortune results in his incarceration, he sees prison as an opportunity to convert the ungodly: "I therefore promised to repeat my lecture next day, and actually conceived some hopes of making a reformation here; for it had ever been my opinion, that no man was past the hour of amendment, every heart lying open to the shafts of reproof, if the archer could but take a proper aim." Even his most malicious oppressors are reason for optimism: "... as my oppressor has been once my parishioner, I hope one day to present him up an unpolluted soul at the eternal tribunal." And upon discovering that Jenkinson's account about the death of his daughter is false, he chooses to be overjoyed at her return rather than angered by the deception: "'How could you,' cried I, turning to Mr Jenkinson, 'how could you add to my miseries by the story of her death! But it matters not, my pleasure at finding her again, is more than a recompence for the pain.' "
While Primrose's strength of spiritual character, moral fortitude and steadfastness in the face of crisis is exaggerated to the point of humor and wild improbability, it is nonetheless admirable in what it suggests about the human spirit. He sleeps untroubled while in prison and having suffered the most grave misfortune and being deprived of all that is dear to him: "After my usual meditations, and having praised my heavenly corrector, I laid myself down and slept with the utmost tranquility till morning." And rather than grieve over his misfortune after his house has been engulfed with flames, he sees it as a positive benefit, for it humbles his wife's pride and makes her more receptive to the return of his daughter from prostitution: "I proceeded to prepare them for the reception of our lost one, and tho' we had nothing but wretchedness now to impart, I was willing to procure her a welcome to what we had. This task would have been more difficult but for our recent calamity, which had humbled my wife's pride, and blunted it by more poignant afflictions." And when too much laughter and merriness displeases Primrose in preparation for the solemn ceremony of marriage, he makes it the occasion for spiritual correction: "I told them of the grave, becoming and sublime deportment they should assume upon this Mystical occasion, and read them two homilies and a thesis of my own composing, in order to prepare them." And even some of the other characters share this virtuous approach, for rather than commiserate with Wilmot upon the loss of his fortune to deception, the senior squire remarks: "your present disappointment does not entirely displease me. Your immoderate passion for wealth is now justly punished."
Like Job, Primrose suffers at the hand of increasing disasters, but unlike his Biblical counterpart, he doesn't go to the ash-heap to mourn or struggle with his condition or grief. He remains constant in hope and optimism, sees in the greatest disasters opportunities for spiritual correction and growth, and always retains the prospect of improving his fortunes, if not in this life then in the hereafter. Despite his overly optimistic character, this naïve and simple man who wants to serve God and his family presents a somewhat charming figure. We are curious what will be the outcome of his life, and our sense of expectation is heightened by the twists and turns of the plot, which for an 18th century work is reasonably fast paced and quite accessible for modern readers. While improbable, Primrose's journey from fortune to misfortune and back again might prove morally instructive not just to its protagonist, but to us all. - GODLY GADFLY
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