Tobias Smollett (–1771)
Author of The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
About the Author
Smollett, the only major eighteenth-century English novelist whose work can seriously be called picaresque, came to the writing of novels with a strong sense of Scottish national pride (an alienating element in the London of the 1750s and 1760s), a Tory feeling for a lost order, horrifying show more experiences as a physician, and a fierce determination to make his way in the literary world. Prolific in a variety of literary forms, he was particularly successful as a popular historian, magazine editor, translator of Cervantes (see Vol. 2), and author of novels about adventurous, unscrupulous, poor young men. His work is marked by vigorous journalistic descriptions of contemporary horrors, such as shipboard amputations or the filthy curative waters of Bath; by a flair for racy narrative often built on violence and sentiment, and for comedy that often relies on practical jokes and puns; and by a great gift for creating comic caricatures. His peppery Travels through France and Italy (1766) was something of a spur to Laurence Sterne's Sentimental Journey, in which Smollett is referred to as Dr. Smelfungus, who "set out with the spleen and jaundice, and every object he passed by was discolored or distorted---He wrote an account of them, but 'twas nothing but the account of his miserable feelings." Smollett's most notable novels are Roderick Random (1748), Peregrine Pickle Pickle (1751), Ferdinand Count Fathom (1753), Sir Launcelot Greaves (1762), which set a precedent by first being serialized in his British Magazine (January 1760--December 1761), and especially The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker (1771), a relatively mellow work that follows the travels of Matthew Bramble, an excitable Welshman, from his home through chaotic England to idyllic Loch Lomond and back. Bramble himself finds what Smollett had irrecoverably lost---his health---as well as a son from his youth. Smollett died in 1771, the year of the novel's appearance, in Leghorn, Italy, and is buried in the English cemetery there. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Smelfungus is a name given by Laurence Sterne to Tobias Smollett as author of a volume of Travels through France and Italy, for the snarling abuse he heaps on the institutions and customs of the countries he visited. In the 19th century it was adopted by Thomas Carlyle as a pen-name when he had any seriously severe criticisms to offer on things, particularly those that have gone or are going to the bad. Patrick Proctor Alexander also used the name in his book Mill and Carlyle, which contrasted Carlyle's views with those of John Stuart Mill. Proctor's Occasional Discourse on Sauertieg by Smelfungus attacks Carlyle's more brutal ideas.
Image credit: from Wikipedia
Works by Tobias Smollett
Humphry Clinker: An Authoritative Text Contemporary Responses Criticism (Norton Critical Editions; 1st Edition) (1771) 131 copies, 2 reviews
The History and Adventures of an Atom (Smollett, Tobias George//Works of Tobias Smollett) (1989) 31 copies
The history of England, from the revolution in 1688, to the death of George the Second (2019) 18 copies
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism (Norton Critical… (1771) — Author — 12 copies
A complete history of England, from the descent of Julius Cæsar, to the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, 1748. ... By T.… (1763) 11 copies
The adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves, and The adventures of an atom ... With illustrations by George Cruikshank, etc (2016) 6 copies
Gil Blas, Volume III 6 copies
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George… (2011) 6 copies
Select Works of Tobias Smollett V1: Containing the Adventures of Peregrine Pickle and the Adventures of Ferdinand Count… (2007) 3 copies
A North Briton extraordinary 3 copies
Plays and Poems 2 copies
The history of England : from the Revolution to the end of the American war, and peace of Versailles in 1783 : in six… 2 copies, 1 review
The adventures of Peregrine Pickle: in which are included, Memoirs of a lady of quality Volume 2 (2010) 2 copies
The Works of Tobias Smollett 1 copy
The Miscellaneous Works of Tobias Smollett, M. D.: The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. the Adventures of an Atom (2010) 1 copy
The Life of Cervantes 1 copy
The tears of Scotland 1 copy
A faithful narrative of the base and inhuman arts that were lately practised upon the brain of Habbakkuk Hilding, ...… (2010) 1 copy
The Works, 12 vols, F6 1 copy
The Works of Tobias Smollett. The Life Roderick Random Pergrine Pickle Humphrey Clinker The Regicide The Reprisal Poems (1903) 1 copy
Roderick Random Vol Two 1 copy
Roderick Random, Vol One 1 copy
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volumes 3 & 4 — Author — 1 copy
S&S Little Classics 1 copy
What Pleases the Ladies 1 copy
Peregrine Pickle Volume two 1 copy
Tobias Smollett Novels: The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (Vols. I & II) / The Expedition of Humphry Clinker / The… 1 copy, 1 review
Peregryn Pickle. T. 1 1 copy
Peregryn Pickle. T. 2 1 copy
L'Aventurier 1 copy
Associated Works
VOLTAIRE - Premium Collection: Novels, Philosophical Writings, Historical Works, Plays, Poems & Letters (60 Works in… (2016) — Translator — 19 copies
The Craft Of Terror - The Best From The Rare And Infamous Gothic Horror Novels (1966) — Author — 8 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Smollett, Tobias
- Legal name
- Smollett, Tobias George
- Other names
- Smelfungus
- Birthdate
- 1721-03-19 (baptised)
- Date of death
- 1771-09-17
- Burial location
- Old English Cemetery, Livorno, Tuscany, Italy (Leghorn)
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Country (for map)
- Scotland, UK
- Birthplace
- Dalquhurn, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, UK
- Place of death
- Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
- Places of residence
- Renton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, Great Britain
Glasgow, Scotland, Great Britain
London, England, Great Britain
Bath, Somerset, England, Great Britain
Livorno, Tuscany (now Italy ∙ death)
Cardross, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, Great Britain (show all 7)
Chelsea, London, England, Great Britain - Education
- University of Glasgow
University of Aberdeen (MD|1750)
apprenticed to a surgeon in Glasgow, Scotland - Occupations
- naval surgeon
dramatist
novelist
editor
translator
poet (show all 8)
satirist
historian - Disambiguation notice
- Smelfungus is a name given by Laurence Sterne to Tobias Smollett as author of a volume of Travels through France and Italy, for the snarling abuse he heaps on the institutions and customs of the countries he visited.
In the 19th century it was adopted by Thomas Carlyle as a pen-name when he had any seriously severe criticisms to offer on things, particularly those that have gone or are going to the bad. Patrick Proctor Alexander also used the name in his book Mill and Carlyle, which contrasted Carlyle's views with those of John Stuart Mill. Proctor's Occasional Discourse on Sauertieg by Smelfungus attacks Carlyle's more brutal ideas.
Members
Reviews
Roderick Random (Penguin Classics) by Tobias Smollett
I am a Victorianist, so I have no issues with reading texts many others find old or dull. However, I am beginning to think that some kind of switch was flipped around 1820 or so that made literature become good—presumably this was done by Jane Austen. This reminded me a lot of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (published a year later), in that it goes on and on and on and on without stopping. The focus on interiority that makes the novel the novel just isn't here yet, but even a lot of the dialogue comes in the form of reported summaries of conversations. It's like listening to someone tell you a story, only the teller is an older relative and they have no clear point and no clear direction and soon all you can do is nod politely and hope it doesn't go on too long. But of course it does. Fool me once, eighteenth-century picaresques,* shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Hopefully I am not fooled into picking up a third one.
* Everyone calls this book a picaresque, but David Blewett, editor of my Penguin Classics edition, goes to great pains in his introduction to establish that it's not one.… (more)
* Everyone calls this book a picaresque, but David Blewett, editor of my Penguin Classics edition, goes to great pains in his introduction to establish that it's not one.… (more)
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker is one of the great comic novels of the 18th century, the outstanding masterpiece of Tobias Smollett (1721–71), a prolific journalist, historian, editor and translator, whose ground-breaking fictional creations helped shape the modern novel.
Written in Italy during Smollett’s last illness, and published just months before his death from overwork, Humphry Clinker gives a riotous account of the misadventures of an eccentric ‘assemblage of originals’ as they embark on a misguided sightseeing tour of England and Scotland: former libertine Matthew Bramble, now a misanthropic hypochondriac; his sister, Tabitha, a shrewish old maid on the prowl for eligible bachelors; his nephew, Jery, a high-spirited Oxford graduate; his love-sick teenage niece, Lydia; and their simple-minded maid, Winifred Jenkins. When they are joined en route by Captain Obadiah Lismahago, an irascible Scot who has survived scalping at the hands of American Indians, and the titular hero, Humphry Clinker, an accident-prone stable-worker with a hidden talent for preaching, the stage is set for a bizarre period version of the disastrous family holiday.
Told entirely through the gossipy letters that Smollett’s characters write along the way, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker conjures up in vivid detail the sights, sounds – and smells – of the Georgian era, blending satirical portraits of recognisable historical figures and biting social commentary with hilarious fictions. Encounters with stool-obsessed physicians and reluctant highwaymen, hen-pecked husbands and practical-joking country squires, long-lost relatives and lovers-in-disguise sit alongside surprisingly modern concerns about battery hens, artificial white bread, and the question of Scottish independence. The result is a unique blend of the scatological, the poignant, the lyrical and the laugh-out-loud, and remains as fresh and entertaining today as when it first appeared nearly 250 years ago.
Smollett’s text is perfectly matched by Derrick Harris’s dynamic woodcuts that evoke 19th-century popular prints and add a witty, modern edge. The binding features the original paper jacket design from The Folio Society 1955 edition, while the patterned slipcase reproduces the original fifties binding. This new edition also includes an informative introduction by John Sutherland celebrating Smollett’s distinctive talent, and a map that allows us to trace the route of this extraordinary fictional ‘expedition’.… (more)
Written in Italy during Smollett’s last illness, and published just months before his death from overwork, Humphry Clinker gives a riotous account of the misadventures of an eccentric ‘assemblage of originals’ as they embark on a misguided sightseeing tour of England and Scotland: former libertine Matthew Bramble, now a misanthropic hypochondriac; his sister, Tabitha, a shrewish old maid on the prowl for eligible bachelors; his nephew, Jery, a high-spirited Oxford graduate; his love-sick teenage niece, Lydia; and their simple-minded maid, Winifred Jenkins. When they are joined en route by Captain Obadiah Lismahago, an irascible Scot who has survived scalping at the hands of American Indians, and the titular hero, Humphry Clinker, an accident-prone stable-worker with a hidden talent for preaching, the stage is set for a bizarre period version of the disastrous family holiday.
Told entirely through the gossipy letters that Smollett’s characters write along the way, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker conjures up in vivid detail the sights, sounds – and smells – of the Georgian era, blending satirical portraits of recognisable historical figures and biting social commentary with hilarious fictions. Encounters with stool-obsessed physicians and reluctant highwaymen, hen-pecked husbands and practical-joking country squires, long-lost relatives and lovers-in-disguise sit alongside surprisingly modern concerns about battery hens, artificial white bread, and the question of Scottish independence. The result is a unique blend of the scatological, the poignant, the lyrical and the laugh-out-loud, and remains as fresh and entertaining today as when it first appeared nearly 250 years ago.
Smollett’s text is perfectly matched by Derrick Harris’s dynamic woodcuts that evoke 19th-century popular prints and add a witty, modern edge. The binding features the original paper jacket design from The Folio Society 1955 edition, while the patterned slipcase reproduces the original fifties binding. This new edition also includes an informative introduction by John Sutherland celebrating Smollett’s distinctive talent, and a map that allows us to trace the route of this extraordinary fictional ‘expedition’.… (more)
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 123
- Also by
- 15
- Members
- 3,701
- Popularity
- #6,848
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 57
- ISBNs
- 320
- Languages
- 5
- Favorited
- 12
