Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

Ian Campbell Ross (Trinity College Dublin)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1771

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

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Tobias Smollett's fifth and final novel signals by its title,

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

, a self-conscious departure from the fictional Lives, Histories, and Adventures so popular with contemporaries and, indeed, with Smollett himself. A novelist who self-consciously experimented with fictional form throughout his life, Smollett turns for the first time to epistolary fiction, albeit handled in a manner unique in the eighteenth century.

Humphry Clinker

relates the near-circular tour of Great Britain undertaken by the ailing Welsh landowner, Matthew Bramble for the sake of his health. He is accompanied on his journey by his unmarried sister, Tabitha Bramble; his nephew, Jery Melford, fresh from Cambridge University; Jery's sister, Lydia, straight out of school; and Tabitha's maid Win…

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1614 words

Citation: Ross, Ian Campbell. "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10091, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

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