The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
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The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (often known simply as Tom Jones) is a comic novel by Henry Fielding. It was published in 1749, enjoyed immediate popularity and has inspired several adaptations, including an Academy Award-winning film and a television miniseries.
The title character, a handsome, brave, generous young man of uncertain parentage and hearty appetites, remains faithful to his beloved in spirit, if not in flesh. The combination of vice and virtue in a fully realized, three-dimensional hero was unusual in English literature of its day. Throughout the lengthy book, the author openly mocks the moral rigidity of fashionable writers and critics while simultaneously acknowledging the frailties of his characters and celebrating their good natures.
In 1963 Tom Jones was made into an uproarious and unconventional film directed by Tony Richardson and starring Albert Finney as the young Tom Jones. See: Tom Jones (movie). The book was also twice used as the basis for an opera, once by François-André Philidor in 1765 and again by Edward German in 1907.