How David Copperfield drew on The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
A documented line of influence: Charles Dickens demonstrably engaged Henry Fielding’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Henry Fielding · 1749
EnlightenmentThe influenced
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens · 1850
The Age of the NovelRelevance
9/10
On David Copperfield’s page
- The novel Dickens consciously built David Copperfield on — Fielding's picaresque made into a Victorian boy's life story
- Fielding's Tom Jones appears in the book itself: David names it among his father's books, the "glorious host" that kept him company
- The debt was heartfelt — Dickens named a son Henry Fielding Dickens while writing it; read Tom Jones first to feel the warm, sprawling comic lineage David's story descends from
On The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling’s page
- Fielding's sprawling, generous comic novel is the picaresque tradition Dickens consciously wrote David Copperfield into
- The homage was personal: while writing the novel, Dickens named his newborn son Henry Fielding Dickens
- Tom Jones even turns up inside the story — David lists it among his dead father's books, "a glorious host, to keep me company"