Interrupting the Illusion in the Closet:

Literary Tableaux of Contemplation in Henry Fielding’s Novel Tom Jones

Abstract

The tableau, an art form originating from theatres and the visual arts, is also a literary
phenomenon. Literary tableaux are short scenic interruptions or pictorial compositions
arresting the narrative flow and serving as highlighted moments where time stands
still. Either they are scenes of intense emotion, or they occur at a crucial point in the
plot.
This paper distinguishes between two modes of writing that are at work in
literary tableaux, which I will call absorption and contemplation. Absorption is a mode
of writing and reading related to formal realism. In his theory about tableaux, Denis
Diderot advocates for a realist art and literature that can create the illusion of a close
relationship between the work of art and the reader/beholder. Focusing on the 18thcentury English writer Henry Fielding, this paper provides a close reading of selected
scenes from the novel Tom Jones, arguing that Fielding created his own tableaux of
contemplation. These instances are metafictional moments in which the narrator
interrupts the narrative to converse with the reader about an event or a character in the
novel. Often, they contain references to classical art and are a mix of epic, tragic and
comic elements. Fielding’s tableaux explicitly present their own fictionality, consulting
with the reader about the difference between art and life.