The Adventures of Roderick Random (Works of Tobias Smollett) - Hardcover

Tobias Smollett

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0820321656 ISBN 13: 9780820321653

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2012

Synopsis

This is the definitive scholarly edition of Tobias Smollett’s first novel, widely regarded as one of his two masterpieces. Surging with verbal, sexual, and martial energy, The Adventures of Roderick Random opens a window on life, love, and war in the eighteenth century. The hero battles his way from poverty and neglect to make his mark as a doctor, writer, fighter, and lover. His adventures take us across the world, from England and France to the Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America.

About this title

Review:

Although Smollett would write other hit novels, his first foray into fiction, The Adventures of Roderick Random, which has never been out of print, is in many ways his best, a must-read for those familiar with his other works and the place to start for neophytes. . . . [T]his superb edition . . . [contains] copious notes and introductory material, clarifying all matters biographical, historical, political and linguistic and explaining customs, manners and diction, providing the reader with everything he needs to get the most out of this not-to-be-missed treat.

--Martin Rubin "Washington Times "

A reprinting of a literary classic that reflects on its place in the history of literature, The Adventures of Roderick Random is an excellent addition to any community library collection of eighteenth century literature.

--Midwest Book Review

This is certainly 'the most elaborate scholarly edition of Roderick Random yet undertaken[.]' . . . Smollett was a major talent who appealed to generations of readers and writers, and Roderick Random is up to the very best he ever produced.

--Pat Rogers "New Criterion "

[The Adventures of Roderick Random] comes with a crisply informative introduction and explanatory and textual commentaries which give every appearance of reflecting the distinction of the editorial team. . . . Like the other volumes in the series, it is handsomely produced and delightfully illustrated.

--Claude Rawson "Recent Studies in the Restoration and Eighteenth Century "

Among the huge number of details [in the endnotes] are enough that illuminate specific passages in Roderick Random or establish interesting biographical connections to make the reader's effort worthwhile. . . . This is a genuinely satisfying book, handsomely produced and aesthetically pleasing, including twenty-seven well-chosen and clearly reproduced full-page illustrations.

--Alfred Lutz "1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era "

While they spend more time on the novel's literary context and reception, [the editors] also devote adequate space to its cultural politics, touching on an array of issues from imperialism to homophobia . . . . the editors want to define Roderick Random as a work that is ahead of its time, not a product of it--its issues 'less political' than 'existential'.

--Lee Kahan "Modern Language Review "

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. Alexander Pettit (Editor) ALEXANDER PETTIT is an associate professor of English at the University of North Texas. He is also the general editor of three series: The Works of Tobias Smollett (Georgia), British Ideas and Issues, 1660-1820, and Selected Works of Eliza Haywood.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0820321656
• ISBN 13: 9780820321653
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 640
• Editor: James G. Nasker, Nicole Seary, Paul-Gabriel Bouce, O. M. Brack Jr., Alexander Pettit