The Adventures of Master F.J.

Description

Featuring an interesting structure that combines epistolary chapters, poetry and vivid descriptions of intimate scenes, The Adventures of Master F.J. by George Gascoigne first appeared in 1573 in a volume entitled Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, but this Renaissance proto-novel is just as enjoyable and entertaining today as it was back then in Elizabethan times.

The novel, also one of the first examples of prose fiction in English, is about a forbidden and secret love affair. For hundreds of years, literary critics were looking for clues to prove that the story was inspired from the author’s own life, but information is quite scarce about Gascoigne’s private life, so the last few decades saw the emergence of a different critical approach towards the text, one that reads it as fiction and nothing else. The story depicting the relationship between a man and a married lady alternates letters from F.J. to his beloved Elinor and the lady’s replies, as well as poems and critical remarks made in third person singular to reveal the affair.

Also considered to be the first breaking-down novel and a precursor of the best novels by Stendhal and Flaubert, the story was both successful and scandalous, considered to be immoral and outrageous by both the court and the church. The scandal prompted Gascoigne to rewrite the novel, changing the name of the characters to make the story look as if it were a translation of an Italian book. In the revised version, Gascoigne also changed the general attitude towards the love affair itself, condemning it and adding critical remarks about it to make the book more acceptable. The title was also changed to The Posies of George Gascoigne, and that is the version that was circulated for hundreds of years after its first publication in 1575, both the original and the reviewed variation providing excellent reading experiences.
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