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Abstract:

Novels by Fielding (including the best of them — The History of Tom Jones) not only accumulated and transformed the experience of the earlier development of English comedy of manners (belonging to Restoration and early Enlightenment), but in their own turn affected theatrical plays both in England and other European countries. Providing a source for many dramatic pieces on both sides of the English Channel, the famous novel kept on playing an intermediary part in the literary process and in theatrical life in the second half of the 18th century, acting as a catalyst for current tendencies both in style or genre development (particularly in drama). The multidirectional processes expressing this function are considered by the example of original plays, translations and adaptations which appeared in England and France in 1760–1780s and belonged to George Colman the Elder, Richard Cumberland, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Mari-Jeanne Riccoboni, and Pierre Jean-Baptiste Choudard (Desforges). The author points out the special significance of Colman’s comedy The Jealous Wife which played an important role in the processes of genre adaptation of the central motifs of novels by Fielding on the ground of dramatic literature and in the interrelations of different national theatrical traditions in the 18^th century.