Jonathan Wild

Jonathan Wild--------------------------------------------------he carried Good-nature to that wonderful and uncommon Height, thathe never did a single Injury to Man or Woman, by which he himself didnot expect to reap some Advantage' The real-life Jonathan Wild, ganglandgodfather and self-styled 'Thieftaker General', controlled much ofthe London underworld until he was executed for his crimes in 1725.Even during his lifetime his achievements attracted attention, afterhis death balladeers sang of his exploits, and satirists made connectionsbetween his success and the triumph of corruption in high places. HenryFielding built on these narratives to produce one of the greatest sustainedsatires in the English language. Published in 1743, at a time whenthe modern novel had yet to establish itself as a fixed literary form,Jonathan Wild is at the same time a brilliant black comedy, an incisivepolitical satire, and a profoundly serious exploration of human 'greatness'and 'goodness'.