Anna Boleyn and the Authenticity of Fielding's Feminine Narratives

THE NARRATIVES that Henry Fielding interpolated into his fiction have caused later readers much concern, and a good deal of critical energy has been expended trying to explain, or explain away, their presence.1 There are examples of such narratives in all of his major fictions, but his method of presenting them was not consistent. "The History of Betty the Chambermaid" in Joseph Andrews, for example, is narrated authorially in his archest and most brilliant manner, while Miss Mathews and Mrs. Bennet in Amelia tell their own stories, and whatever the resulting gain in "authenticity" in Amelia, there is no denying the loss of style and manner. The question of why Fielding chose to have Miss Mathews and Mrs. Bennet tell their own stories is a curious one; and the fact that most, though not all, of the characters who tell their own histories in Fielding's novels are female raises a number of further questions. Why did Fielding choose to experiment with dramatic writing most often in