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A review by tome15
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett
5.0
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.
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.