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Tobias Smollett (1721–1771)

Author of The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

127+ Works 3,577 Members 56 Reviews 12 Favorited

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

Roderick Random (1748) 717 copies
Gil Blas, Volume I (1928) 28 copies
Gil Blas, Volume II (1928) 26 copies

Associated Works

Don Quixote (1605) — Translator, some editions — 30,339 copies
Candide (1759) — Translator, some editions — 20,445 copies
Gil Blas (1715) — Translator, some editions — 397 copies
Candide and Zadig (1961) — Translator, some editions — 301 copies
Eighteenth-Century English Literature (1969) — Author — 186 copies
The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature (1998) — Contributor — 158 copies
The Norton Book of Travel (1987) — Contributor — 110 copies
Candide and Other Tales (1968) — Translator — 35 copies
The World's Greatest Books Volume 08 Fiction (1910) — Contributor — 24 copies
Great English Short Stories (1930) — Contributor — 20 copies

Tagged

1001 (173) 1001 books (226) 17th century (494) 18th century (733) adventure (329) Cervantes (369) chivalry (188) classic (1,584) classic fiction (155) classic literature (251) classics (1,858) Don Quixote (321) ebook (235) English literature (162) Enlightenment (190) fiction (5,393) Folio Society (158) France (370) French (580) French literature (735) humor (523) Kindle (202) literature (1,888) novel (1,260) Novela (185) own (215) philosophy (992) picaresque (180) read (458) Roman (165) satire (1,140) Spain (800) Spanish (819) Spanish literature (1,051) to-read (2,151) translated (145) translation (330) travel (137) unread (324) Voltaire (191)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Smollett, Tobias George
Other names
Smelfungus
Birthdate
1721-03-19
Date of death
1771-09-17
Burial location
Livorno, Tuscany, Italy (Leghorn)
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Dalquhurn, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, Great Britain
Place of death
Livorno, 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
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

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.
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Stevil2001 | 12 other reviews | Feb 2, 2024 |
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’.
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Danzeman | 24 other reviews | Dec 17, 2023 |
A long epistolary novel about a journey made in the 1770s from Wales through England and Scotland and back home again. The letters are written by six family members; funny (different views of the same incidents), insightful, clever, wise…and long. Given the variety of places they visit, there is a lot of commentary on contemporary politics and manners. Once again, I read a classic and discovered why it’s a classic.
½
 
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Gypsy_Boy | 24 other reviews | Aug 26, 2023 |
Bene, non c’è nulla che sia uno stabile a questo mondo!

(Winifred, 384)



La spedizione di Humphry Clinker o La sparizione di Humphry Clinker?



Se Dickens si è ispirato a Smollett è certo che il primo ci ha messo molto del suo...



E poi quell’introduzione del Mazzacurati: dal pulpito il suo sermone (o salmone, come direbbe Winifred) a noi poveri derelitti, abbacinati dalla sua sapienza, … (vale sempre l’indicazione di Massa a Alonso: ma vai a c...!).

… ma tutto questo è suppositorio, ragazza mia;

(Winifred, 385)



Proprio vicino al salone delle fonti c’è una sala da caffè per le signore; ma mia zia dice che le ragazze non sono ammesse, poichè la conversazione verte su argomenti di politica, scandali, filosofia, ed altre materie al di sopra delle nostre capacità; …

(59)



Cara Mary,

abbiando l’occasione di mio cugino Jenkins da Aberganny, ti mando, come ricordo, un cappio di yarde di nastro verde, un pettine di tattuga e un salmone sulla nullità delle opere buone, che è stato predicato dal Tabernoccolo; …


(202)



Sono andata per mare a un altro regno chiamato Fifa e tornando indietro sono stata a un passo dal fare la fine del sorcio durante una tempesta. Insomma, tra la spaura e il male all’essere, ho pensato che mi avevano arrestato il cuore; …

(330)

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NewLibrary78 | 24 other reviews | Jul 22, 2023 |

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Works
127
Also by
13
Members
3,577
Popularity
#7,087
Rating
3.9
Reviews
56
ISBNs
312
Languages
6
Favorited
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