The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great

Henry Fielding

Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015)

(4.8 stars; 6 reviews)

This novel is sometimes thought of as [Fielding's] first because he almost certainly began composing it before he wrote Shamela and Joseph Andrews. It is a satire of Walpole that draws a parallel between Walpole and Jonathan Wild, the infamous gang leader and highwayman. He implicitly compares the Whig party in Parliament with a gang of thieves being run by Walpole, whose constant desire to be a "Great Man" (a common epithet for Walpole) should culminate only in the antithesis of greatness: being hanged. (Summary by Wikipedia) (10 hr 16 min)