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85th out of 101 books
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510 voters
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...more
Paperback, 197 pages
Published
June 1st 2006
by Oxford University Press
(first published 1766)
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It's "father knows best" 18th Century style!
A relatively well-off parson's family in mid 1700s England is forced into reduced circumstances and then really falls on hard times.
A contemporary and friend of lexicographer Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith too was a lover of language. He was a teller of tales and The Vicar of Wakefield is essentially just that, a collection of stories tailored to fit linearly into this one novel. As such, there are occasional moments when the book veers from the mai...more
A relatively well-off parson's family in mid 1700s England is forced into reduced circumstances and then really falls on hard times.
A contemporary and friend of lexicographer Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith too was a lover of language. He was a teller of tales and The Vicar of Wakefield is essentially just that, a collection of stories tailored to fit linearly into this one novel. As such, there are occasional moments when the book veers from the mai...more
The merits of this novel seemed so simple when I was in my twenties. Two and a half decades later, I cannot pretend to understand its many layers. Certainly, the book is about a man blind to the world around him, a man of strong and even argumentative principle who is humbled by circumstances and the love for his family, but how are we to regard him? How did the author hope we would regard him? These thing are beyond my reach after a second reading.
Beyond doubt, the Vicar is a foolish man ignora...more
Beyond doubt, the Vicar is a foolish man ignora...more
A humorous account of the changing fortunes of the Primrose family—the Vicar, his wife Deborah, and their six children. This is a great specimen of 18th Century literature, full of satire and irony.
Quotes—
"I began to think seriously of matrimony, and chose my wife as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface but such qualities as would wear well."
"What the conversation wanted in wit, was made up in laughter."
"If we consider, upon a moderate calculation, that the nakedness of the in...more
Quotes—
"I began to think seriously of matrimony, and chose my wife as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface but such qualities as would wear well."
"What the conversation wanted in wit, was made up in laughter."
"If we consider, upon a moderate calculation, that the nakedness of the in...more
I know that this is a classic. I had it recommended to me at a very early age by Louisa May Alcott via Jo March and with that august endorsement did not ever think that it could be anything less than utterly charming.
In spite of that, it has taken 45 years for me to get around to reading it and I wish I had waited 45 more.
Perhaps it is me but I found nothing of worth in the book. The characters are undeveloped, the plot, such as it is, was antiquated before it was written and has been done to de...more
In spite of that, it has taken 45 years for me to get around to reading it and I wish I had waited 45 more.
Perhaps it is me but I found nothing of worth in the book. The characters are undeveloped, the plot, such as it is, was antiquated before it was written and has been done to de...more
Dec 05, 2011
Steve
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
vicar-of-wakefield-friedrich-nietzs
Looking for one more summary of the plot of The Vicar of Wakefield? Why would we do that again here?
Rather than waste time in that way, I wish to propose this theory. Those who most enjoy reading The Vicar of Wakefield, are those who, without realizing it on a conscious level, share many of Dr. Primrose's more problematic traits. His inability even to consider taking responsibility for his own destiny or the destiny of his family. His blindness as to the true nature of what goes on about him. Hi...more
Rather than waste time in that way, I wish to propose this theory. Those who most enjoy reading The Vicar of Wakefield, are those who, without realizing it on a conscious level, share many of Dr. Primrose's more problematic traits. His inability even to consider taking responsibility for his own destiny or the destiny of his family. His blindness as to the true nature of what goes on about him. Hi...more
This novel was published in 1766 and has a first person narrator. The novel is somewhat picaresque and reminds me of the works of Fielding. The plot involves our hero, having lost his fortune, leaving with his family on a journey to a new and much reduced clerical position. The loss of their fortune is the initial destabilizing event. Dangers are abundant: various possibly unscrupulous people are met, and the vicar’s family is too credulous. The family is also too ready to have aspirations to hi...more
This was a charming, 125-page read. Towards the end of the novel I was afraid that it wouldn't end right, but it worked out very pleasantly, and I was grateful. It's fun to hear the minister's advice on life, since it's written in first person. He comments on everything, adding his two cents, and you forgive him for his slights on others' feelings because it's so true to life how he believes his opinions are the only ones that matter. A delightful, light-humored novel.
Quotable Quotes
A book may...more
Quotable Quotes
A book may...more
"The Vicar..." is Jane Austen meets C. Dickens with a bit of satire. Dr. Primrose's character marks a fine line between the bumbling, weak-kneed father and a man of great moral character (dare I say Christian), in which he responds to each circumstance in novel with faith, yes that is what it is, that God will work things out in the end. He does not allow himself to become angry or vengeful, but hopeful.
I think he is an interesting character that is probably foreign to the sensibilities of a mod...more
I think he is an interesting character that is probably foreign to the sensibilities of a mod...more
A curious book. I honestly didn't know what to expect. However, as I read the outrageous twists and turns of fate of Doctor Primrose (the titular vicar) and his family, I couldn't help but think that everything was meant satirically, and not as a true sentimental novel, with heaving bosoms, last-minute pardons, etc., etc. (although those do make appearances!). Everything is so absolutely over-the-top, and the vicar himself so very out of touch with the world and, at times, with rationality, that...more
1 like · like · see review
It occurs to me that I may be more of an 18th century drama person than an 18th century fiction person--at least at this time of my life. Here in the 40s I have read Tristram Shandy (by Sterne) and now The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith and I must say that I am underwhelmed. Give me She Stoops to Conquer or School for Scandal any day. Vicar has been touted in various places as being humorous and witty. I'm afraid I'm just not seeing the humor and wit in this tale about a somewhat prosper...more
2 likes · like · see review
Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield was the final novel that I read for my 18th century novel class and was, by a wide margin, the shortest, weighing in at 160 pages. Published in 1766 it enjoyed wild popularity and was mentioned in such now-classics as Frankenstein, Emma, and A Tale of Two Cities. How I’ve read so many novels which mention this one without having actually read it, I’m not sure, but I blame my professors.
It's a comedic sentimental novel which follows the fall and rise of t...more
It's a comedic sentimental novel which follows the fall and rise of t...more
Delightful! See my review: http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...
2 likes · like · see review
The Rev'd Dr. Primrose, a devoted monogamist (meaning that, should his wife predecease him, he will never marry another) and father of six, becomes a kind of 18th-century Job. He loses his fortune, his property, his home, three of his children (sort of), and his freedom. He never loses hope, however, nor does he lose his devotion to family and religion. He is not so much a character as a caricature, so that we can weep for him and laugh at him at the same time. Along the way, we also enjoy satir...more
While the various vignettes that comprise the novel are mildly entertaining in their own right, the "Vicar of Wakefield" as a whole is simplistic and uninteresting. At its core, this story is the Book of Job transposed into 18th-century England. The overzealous vicar, who is well off in the beginning, experiences a number of setbacks, but in the end all is restored to him. All the while, his faith in God is never shaken.
However, Goldsmith's vicar is an undynamic, one-dimensional character. Despi...more
However, Goldsmith's vicar is an undynamic, one-dimensional character. Despi...more
Well at first I didn't quite see the point in this updated story of Job. It's fine that the protagonist is such a pompous fool, obsessing over the religious controversies around the injunction to Monogamy, but why should he be so mocked by his circumstances, and be made to suffer so? And yet his perseverance in the face of continually overtopping misfortune finally casts about him an unlooked for dignity, and his untouchable goodness is by the end quite moving. And he can command a powerful eloq...more
The Vicar of Wakefield is a charmingly ramshackle book. Published to relieve Goldsmith's debts, for which his landlady tried to arrest him, it has the loose organization and abrupt tonal shifts of a work written in haste. The various digressions work in its favor, though, as around the middle of the novel Goldsmith starts to give his wit free reign. The somewhat placid story of a pious vicar becomes a madcap picaresque, and builds to a deliberately preposterous conclusion in which all of the cha...more
Apr 15, 2010
Margaret
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
british-literature,
authors-gh
I'd wanted to read The Vicar of Wakefield ever since encountering it in the pages of Little Women, when Aunt March catches Jo chuckling over it and demands that Jo read it to her (Jo later catches Aunt March reading it by herself). It's the tale of the Primrose family -- "all equally generous, credulous, simple, and inoffensive" -- headed by their father, the eponymous vicar, and their trials and tribulations.
It was a little tough to get into, due to a highly digressive and coincidental plot, b...more
It was a little tough to get into, due to a highly digressive and coincidental plot, b...more
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I have not done any research on this book, but it is obvious to me that Austen had read it before writing her masterpiece Pride and Prejudice. Throughout the reading of this novel, I was undergoing a constant comparison to Austen's P&P. Goldsmith takes up many of the same themes: a scheming mother trying to find husbands for her daughters, a daughter who runs away with a rake to get married, and a family having financial difficulties. The main character is a clergyman, but a different kind o...more
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The Vicar of Wakefield is a classic novel of 18th century England. The prime virtue is the irrepressible character of the title character, who remains optimistic in the face of terrible events that befall his little family. He falls victim to lies and tricks, but always retains faith in humanity.
There are aspects that distract a modern reader, though. His views on class and gender are archaic. It seems so obvious that many of his misfortunes are due to the fact that his society empowered people...more
There are aspects that distract a modern reader, though. His views on class and gender are archaic. It seems so obvious that many of his misfortunes are due to the fact that his society empowered people...more
This is one of those books that get mentioned in high school English (or did anyway), but which no one ever reads anymore, probably because it is so dated. Basically, this is a sort of morality tale. The protagonist and his family go through a series of calamities, each worse than the preceding one, and then in the last little bit, it all comes out well in the end.
Parts of the book reminded me of Pride and Prejudice. The protagonist was a bit like Mr. Bennet, well meaning, moralistic and somewh...more
Parts of the book reminded me of Pride and Prejudice. The protagonist was a bit like Mr. Bennet, well meaning, moralistic and somewh...more
I read this for a book club challenge and at first it was hard to get into, mainly because of the over flowery language but by the end I was moving right along. The Vicar and his family of wife two older daughters, and older son and three younger sons have a comfortable living in a small country parish. Then the village merchant who was acting as banker disappeared with all their funds and they were forced to move to a smaller farmstead in the country. That was the beginning of their continued m...more
This book was written so long ago (1766) that the english used then is different from current english. It's almost like reading Shakespeare -- one would like to have footnotes. In fact I would recommend looking for an edition that has footnotes.
The first half of the book is pleasant enough with the good-natured author describing his cultured and educated immediate family. The second half of the book devolves into a saga reminiscent of the Book of Job. Words such as implausible, ridiculous, cont...more
The first half of the book is pleasant enough with the good-natured author describing his cultured and educated immediate family. The second half of the book devolves into a saga reminiscent of the Book of Job. Words such as implausible, ridiculous, cont...more
Jan 18, 2012
Hermien
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audiobooks,
1001-books
A quintesentially English book redolent with witticisms such as “Although we seldom followed advice we were all ready enough to ask it” and “Though I have made no use of advice myself I should in conscious give it to those that will.” I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The book was written in 1761 and 1762, and published in 1766, and was one of the most popular and widely read 18th-century novels among Victorians. The novel is mentioned in George Eliot's Middlemarch, Jane Austen's Emma, Charles Dickens' A...more
The book was written in 1761 and 1762, and published in 1766, and was one of the most popular and widely read 18th-century novels among Victorians. The novel is mentioned in George Eliot's Middlemarch, Jane Austen's Emma, Charles Dickens' A...more
Jun 25, 2009
Manny
added it
You know that Monty Python sketch, where the guy introduces himself as "Mr. Smoketoomuch"?
"Well, you'd better cut down a little!" says Mr. Bounder.
"I'm sorry?"
"You'd better cut down a little then."
"Oh, I see! Smoke too much so I'd better cut down a little then!"
"Yes. Ooh, it's going to get people making jokes about your name all the time, eh?"
"No, actually, it never struck me before. Smoketoomuch..."
We had a Northern English au pair once, whose father actually was the Vicar of Wakefield. She'd b...more
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As I read this book, I couldn't help but see the parallels to the book of Job. The Vicar is a wonderful character -- a man of integrity, faith, and fidelity. He has a wonderful life when things begin to fall apart. His wealth, health,and family are all taken from him, yet through it all he stays true to what he believes. And everything is restored at the end book because of his fidelity. Of course woven into the plot is the 18th century love story with its misunderstandings and tragedies, but al...more
Strange novel. Basically, it's like what you'd get if Ned Flanders from the Simpsons lived in the 18th century and wrote a book about his family overcoming all sorts of trials and tribulations. Some of it is funny, some of it is boring, and most of it is just plain bewildering in regard to whatever it was exactly that Goldsmith was trying to convey here. Sure the main character is annoying, self-righteous, and out of touch with reality, but God seems to reward him pretty well for it, in the end....more
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Quite an adventure for a man of the cloth, he starts out a wealthy man and loses almost everything but always has his family (well, almost always). I'd come across this title a number of times reading various Victorian era novels, including Dickens & Trollope, apparently it was one of the most popular 'classics' when many of today's classics had yet to be written. I expected that, if this book had the kind of influence over Victorian literature I'd seen indicated, it couldn't end on a bad no...more
A good read.
The language was pretty dense, but to be expected from the time period. And besides that, it was actually a pretty easy book to get into and get through (I'm always worried when I start a book that is 200 years old).
The story is a classic tale of the humble good man how keeps getting screwed by the greedy evil guy(s). And the Vicar really gets beaten down by the jerk antagonists. I was impressed how well Goldsmith makes you love to hate the bad guys.
Of course, the last chapter wraps...more
The language was pretty dense, but to be expected from the time period. And besides that, it was actually a pretty easy book to get into and get through (I'm always worried when I start a book that is 200 years old).
The story is a classic tale of the humble good man how keeps getting screwed by the greedy evil guy(s). And the Vicar really gets beaten down by the jerk antagonists. I was impressed how well Goldsmith makes you love to hate the bad guys.
Of course, the last chapter wraps...more
Perhaps I am just not clever enough to get this book or perhaps it just doesn't age well. It did not hold my interest, even though at the start, I thought it was okay. The story rambled off into odd bits, the characters were never that engaging. I didn't care at all what happened to them at the end.
Too bad, because this is supposed to be one of those books to read before you die and I think I could have died without feeling the lack of it. Now it's just time I might have spent reading something...more
Too bad, because this is supposed to be one of those books to read before you die and I think I could have died without feeling the lack of it. Now it's just time I might have spent reading something...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| sentimental novel | 1 | 7 | Jul 20, 2011 09:07pm |
The British poet, dramatist, novelist, and essayist Oliver Goldsmith wrote, translated, or compiled more than 40 volumes. The works for which he is remembered are marked by good sense, moderation, balance, order, and intellectual honesty.
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“I love everything that is old; old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.”
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“Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.”
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Jan 12, 2012 08:23am