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Henry Fielding is quite an interesting writer in that he has a systematic theory of novels and he has actively as well as openly manifested his ideas. He advocates his literary theories and principles in his short “Preface” to Joseph Andrews, throughout the 18 essays featured in Tom Jones, and via the ever-present, self-conscious voices of author-narrator in most of his novels. Ian Watt, who defines the characteristics of the new literary genre that appeared in the first half of the 18th century as “formal realism,” emphasizes the ways by which novelists depict the realistic characters and their common lives by means of the detailed and concrete manner of writing. He evaluates Daniel Defoe as first practitioner and praises Samuel Richardson's effort in taking step further; but diagnoses Fielding’s work as stepping aside. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize Fielding's theory of novels, to define his status as one of the important figures in the early development of this genre, and to clarify his purpose and intentions as a novelist. He criticizes vehemently contemporary licentious romances and tries to land his literary works a place among the classics. He calls his novels “history,” and maintains true historians should imitate nature, and its general and universal truths. Furthermore, Fielding, by means of his “epic prose” style, depicts the social milieu of his time, and parodies both the impulse of the middle class, which tries to establish a new social order, and the incapability and irresponsibility of the upper ruling class. His ultimate goal in literature can be summarized as “the exposure of vanity and hypocrisy in society, and the recommendation of the antithetical virtues—charity, chastity, and the classical ideal of life.”