The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

by Tobias Smollett, O M Brack Jr. (Editor)

Overview

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, Tobias Smollett's last published novel and most celebrated work, appeared in June 1771, three months before the author's death. A classic in the history of the English novel, it takes the form of a collection of letters written by various members of Mr. Matthew Bramble's family (for whom Humphry Clinker is a general servant) during their eight months of travel in England and Scotland in the 1760s. The wanderings of the Bramble party result in a series of amusing adventures and episodes, unfolding within the main plot in which the eccentric and contentious characters—"originals" as Bramble's nephew calls them—discover the sources of true happiness.

In this work, Smollett realized two long-standing artistic goals—a harmonious fusion of satire and comedy and, through the deliberate intertwining of historical and contrived details, a portrayal of the world as constructed from both fiction and fact. In achieving the latter, Smollett was aided by the novel's form, for the epistolary style of travel books in his day set a precedent for the extensive commentary on incidents, experiences, people, and places in Humphry Clinker and allowed him to relate the same stories through multiple points of view.

Much of the continuing appeal of the novel can be traced to the gossipy insights found in its mass of historical, biographical, economic, political, social, geographical, and topographical details. One meets, for example, Smollett's version of such historical personages as William Pitt, James Quin, and the Duke of Newcastle, as well as fictionalized versions of Smollett's own friends and enemies. Even minor characters are often taken directly from history. In addition, the book includes numerous quotations from and allusions to the Bible, earlier and contemporary literature, the Book of Common Prayer, medical matter, and proverbial lore.

This edition of Humphry Clinker includes illustrations by George Cruikshank and Thomas Rowlandson and is the first scholarly edition to feature a comprehensive introduction, exhaustive textual editing, and detailed notes that cite passages from Smollett's nonfictional works and the works of his contemporaries to analyze the mass of allusions and references in the novel. Thomas R. Preston's introduction discusses the composition, publication, and early reception of Humphry Clinker, the crucial importance of money in the narrative and its revelation of character, and Smollett's use of language and dialect.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820346601
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	01/15/2014
Series:	The Works of Tobias Smollett Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	560
File size:	32 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Tobias Smollett (Author)
TOBIAS SMOLLETT (1721–1771) was a novelist, playwright, journalist, historian, travel writer, critic, translator, editor, and compiler—an eighteenth-century man of letters in the fullest sense of the phrase.

O M Brack Jr. (Editor)
O M BRACK, JR., a professor of English literature emeritus at Arizona State University, is coauthor of Samuel Johnson's Early Biographers and coeditor of The Early Biographies of Samuel Johnson. He has edited volumes of the Works of Samuel Johnson published by Yale and is textual editor for the Georgia series the Works of Tobias Smollett. Brack is the curator of the 2009 Johnson tercentenary exhibition at the Huntington Library.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Preface ix

The Text of The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 1

Reproduction of First Edition Title Page (Vol, 1) 3

Map: The Expedition 4

Backgrounds and Contexts 357

The Tears of Scotland (1746) Tobias Smollett 359

From An Essay on the External Uses of Water (1752) 361

From The Briton 1 (May 1762) 364

From The North Briton 2 (June 1762) John Wilkes 367

From A Picture of England (1789) Johann Wilhelm von Archenholz 369

Criticism 373

Early Reviews and Criticism 375

The Critical Review (1771) 375

Gentleman's Magazine (1771) 376

London Magazine (1771) 378

Monthly Review (1771) 379

[Tobias Smollet] (1821) Walter Scott 379

Contemporary Criticism 383

Scotophilia and Humphry Clinker: The Politics of Beggary, Bugs, and Buttocks Eric Rothstein 383

Social Class, Character, and Narrative Strategy in Humphry Clinker John Zomchick 398

History, Humphry Clinker, and the Novel Robert Mayer 414

Lismahago's Captivity: Transculturation in Humphry Clinker Charlotte Sussman 429

Sentimental Misogyny and Medicine in Humphry Clinker David M. Weed 449

"Fools of Prejudice": Sympathy and National Identity in the Scottish Enlightenment and Humphry Clinker Evan Gottlieb 470

"About savages and the awfulness of America": Colonial Corruptions in Humphry Clinker Tara Ghoshal Wallace 493

From A Usable Past: Reconciliation in Humphry Clinker and The Spiritual Quixote Misty C. Anderson 514

From Waste Management: Tobias Smollett and Remediation Annika Mann 534

Tobias Smollett: A Chronology 549

Selected Bibliography 551

Editorial Reviews

Smollett's last published novel (and most celebrated work) appeared in June 1771, three months before the author's death. This scholarly edition includes illustrations by George Cruikshank and Thomas Rowlandson, and features a comprehensive introduction, exhaustive textual editing, and detailed notes that cite passages from Smollett's nonfictional works and the works of his contemporaries to analyze the mass of allusions and references in the novel. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

This is the first really significant scholarly edition of the last-published novel by Smollett, which includes some wonderful illustrations. . . . Nothing seems to have been overlooked by Preston and Brack here in their efforts to present to the modern reader the most authoritative edition.

Choice

This is the first really significant scholarly edition of the last-published novel by Smollett, which includes some wonderful illustrations. . . . Nothing seems to have been overlooked by Preston and Brack here in their efforts to present to the modern reader the most authoritative edition."—Choice

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