Smollett, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. (1771). Ed. Evan Gottlieb. Norton Critical Edition. 2nd ed. Norton, 2015.
Early reviewers of Humphrey Clinker quickly recognized a connection between it and Henry Fielding’s much more popular Tom Jones (1749). Both novels feature orphans rescued by kindly benefactors, but the novels are very different in tone and purpose. Tom Jones is a romantic comedy, while Humphrey Clinker is a political satire that comes close to being allegorical. Its plot is a rambling one-damned-thing-after-another picaresque. The characters change little and are less important in themselves than in the aspects of national character they represent. The book is a trove of historical, geographical cultural and medical detail that will always engage historians, but the plethora of unfamiliar medical terminology makes it a tough slog for some modern readers. For example, Smollett describes in excruciating detail the pollution at spas like Bath and the effects of overcrowding in London and effects of poor sanitation in Edinburgh. Another factor that makes the novel tough going for modern sensibilities is its blatant misogynism. Women represent for Smollett the luxurious colonial economy that is corrupting a traditional male society based on frugality and honorable male bonding. Finally, Smollett wants to offer a corrective to the prejudices the English held against his native Scotland and the Scots. If you are at all interested in eighteenth-century English and Scottish history and culture, Humphrey Clinker is an essential read.

Smollett, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. (1771). Ed. Evan Gottlieb. Norton Critical Edition. 2nd ed. Norton, 2015.
Early reviewers of Humphrey Clinker quickly recognized a connection between it and Henry Fielding’s much more popular Tom Jones (1749). Both novels feature orphans rescued by kindly benefactors, but the novels are very different in tone and purpose. Tom Jones is a romantic comedy, while Humphrey Clinker is a political satire that comes close to being allegorical. Its plot is a rambling one-damned-thing-after-another picaresque. The characters change little and are less important in themselves than in the aspects of national character they represent. The book is a trove of historical, geographical cultural and medical detail that will always engage historians, but the plethora of unfamiliar medical terminology makes it a tough slog for some modern readers. For example, Smollett describes in excruciating detail the pollution at spas like Bath and the effects of overcrowding in London and effects of poor sanitation in Edinburgh. Another factor that makes the novel tough going for modern sensibilities is its blatant misogynism. Women represent for Smollett the luxurious colonial economy that is corrupting a traditional male society based on frugality and honorable male bonding. Finally, Smollett wants to offer a corrective to the prejudices the English held against his native Scotland and the Scots. If you are at all interested in eighteenth-century English and Scottish history and culture, Humphrey Clinker is an essential read.

An epistolary by which we read through letters written by 5 different people; a family but one (a companion). It started of a little confusing as the header does not tell who the writer is (you find it as they sign their name off on the letter) however after a while you'd note that there are pairings of writers & receivers so you know from whom perspective we are reading. Each writer has his/her own style and most are easily read; one is obviously of lesser education and a little hard for me to read due to the spelling but thankfully her letters are usually short. It always amazes me how an author managed to set out plots just by letters! Despite the title though Humphry Clinker only came onto the scene at around 20% of the book and then, he's really not the main character in it... I found this so very strange. This novel is descriptive of English life in the 18th century: traveling for health, courting, and is full of variety of characters who met a variety of failures/successes in life.

"...what flagrant injustice we every day commit, and what absurd judgment we form, in viewing objects through the falsifying mediums of prejudice and passion."

A 18th British novel by an author I never heard of. The story of the travels of a Welsh family and servants through England and Scotland is told through letters written by several members of the family and one of the servants. The letters often portray the same people and situations, but through different viewpoints. I enjoyed the book a lot, although it is slow reading due to the 18th century language.

bored. let’s move on.

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.

From BBC Radio 4 - Classical Serial:
Tobias Smollet's uproarious satire of 18th-century life, dramatised by Yvonne Antrobus.

Squire Bramble and family embark on their whistle-stop tour of Great Britain. They encounter adventure, mayhem and the enigmatic Humphry Clinker.

I am a fan of this man's graphic and gruesome style of writing. Not fully convinced of the narrative style but otherwise I enjoyed.

This book was really funny, and it's amazing that it was written in the 18th century! A lot of things that happened to the various characters are still valid today.
As the book is written in the form of letters, by the different characters to people more or less close to them, it's a great way to 'get to know' them.
Some things were truly hilarious, and the way the characters describe each other made me laugh hard several times.