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The Vicar of Wakefield

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. This description may be from another edition of this product.

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Format: Hardcover

Condition: New

$119.99
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Customer Reviews

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Rated 5 stars
A billiant novel written by a brilliant man!

Although Goldsmith was brilliant, he was not an easy man to know and to like, and his egoism and unevenness of character does come out in this book. He was always misunderstood, as geniuses often are. This book has assured Goldsmith a place high up in the literature food chain. The theme of the book resembles somewhat the Book of Job from The Bible. Our hero is a good and innocent man who remains steadfast in faith and...

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Rated 5 stars
loverly story

i found the book in a car boot sale it is over a hundred years old ,it was a bit hard with the text,being old ,i had to read the book twice for it to sink in ,what a story best one yet,especialy that it was written so long ago,i havent read the new version, but if its like mine you will enjoy it happy reading .

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Rated 5 stars
A thoroughly good read that still has relevance today.

"Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent, it seldom has justice enough to accuse." So ends chapter 13 in this delightful novel by Oliver Goldsmith, his only novel by the way.Oliver creates a pious character in the form of the vicar, Dr Primrose, that suffers from that most deadly of the 7 deadly sins, Pride. The problem is he doesn't know it. As a result he is brought down peg by peg,...

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Rated 5 stars
The Consolations of Philosophy and Religion

Oliver Goldsmith's 1766 novel, "The Vicar of Wakefield" offers the trials and tribulations of Primrose, an ecclesiastic living in the English countryside. Primrose is content in his life, with a faithful wife, and lovely, if somewhat distracted children. Hearing that his banker has gotten into trouble and fled the country, Primrose and his family begin a series of adventures which test the strength of Primrose's convictions.Among...

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Rated 4 stars
An intelligent book

I liked this book, but did not get all five stars because of the slowness and somewhat predictable ending. But it was good writing, despite being a little bit stereotypical, but here i am chastizing a book which i gave four stars.

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