A Journey from This World to the Next and The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon

by Henry Fielding

Other authorsIan A. Bell (Editor), Andrew Varney (Editor)
Paperback, 1997

Status

Available

Call number

823.5

Collection

Publication

Oxford University Press, USA (1997), Paperback, 280 pages

Description

Whether the ensuing pages were really the dream or vision of some very pious and holy person; or whether they were really written in the other world, and sent back to this, which is the opinion of many (though I think too much inclining to superstition); or lastly, whether, as infinitely the greatest part imagine, they were really the production of some choice inhabitant of New Bethlehem, is not necessary nor easy to determine. It will be abundantly sufficient if I give the reader an account by what means they came into my possession.

User reviews

LibraryThing member ritaer
These are two unlike essays published in one volume. _A Journey From This World to the Next_ is a satire on society in the form of a supposed travelogue of the afterlife. The protagonist discovers that some souls are damned and sent immediately to Hell, souls who have lived a good life are admitted
Show More
to the Elysian Fields, and those who need to improve are given additional incarnations. The satire is provided by the account of Julian the Apostate, who incarnates repeatedly in every station of life. The commentary on the life of courtiers and rulers is particularly pointed, and the last life given, that of Anne Boleyn, makes the precarious nature of the favor of the great especially clear.

_The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon_ is an account of Fieldings last trip, an effort to regain his health by moving to the better climate afforded by Lisbon. Its main interest for the modern reader is to make clear the tedium, discomfort and unpredictability of travel by sailing ship. It takes the party over a month just to escape the coast of England. Part of this time is spent in lodgings on the Isle of Wight as they await favorable winds. Greedy landladies, supply boats determined to get the most out of every traveler and an impatient and unpredictable Captain make the voyage more than usually unpleasant for the dying Fielding--who nevertheless wrote to earn money for his family.
Show Less

Language

Physical description

280 p.; 7.1 inches

ISBN

0192823345 / 9780192823342

Similar in this library

Page: 0.6163 seconds