The Adventures of Roderick Random (Forgotten Books) [Paperback]

Tobias George Smollett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1606208470 | ISBN-13: 978-1606208472

The Adventures of Roderick Random (short form of The Strange and Surprising Adventures of Captain Roderick Random) is a novel by Tobias Smollett which was published 1748. It is a picaresque novel that is also a satire of other picaresque novels of the day.

The novel tells the life story (in the first person) of Roderick "Rory" Random, who was born to a nobleman and a lower-class woman and is thus shunned by his father's family. His mother dies soon after his birth and his father is driven mad with grief. After a few years of resentfully paying for Roderick's education, his grandfather finally casts him out after repeated negative reports from Roderick's abusive tutor.

Roderick ends up finding his maternal uncle, Tom Bowling, a sailor who attempts to support Roderick as best as he can between voyages.

Roderick's companion through most of the story is Hugh Strap, a simple-hearted barber's apprentice and former schoolmate of Roderick's. The two end up serving twice on British ships, once on a privateer and once on a warship. Roderick spends much of the novel trying to marry a wealthy woman so that he can live comfortably, and to that end he poses as a nobleman several times, including once while he is in France. (Quote from wikipedia.org)

About the Author

Tobias George Smollett (bapt. 19 March 1721 - 17 September 1771) was a Scottish author, best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1753).

Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton, in present-day West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. He was the son of a judge and land-owner, and was educated at the University of Glasgow, qualifying as a surgeon. His career in medicine came second to his

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a wonderful and important novel and its present editor who provides us with a very fine introduction is one of the great authorities on the period and author."--Gerald J. Butler, San Diego State Univ.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Tobias George Smollett (c. 1721-1771) was a Scottish author. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 454 pages
• Publisher: Forgotten Books (October 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606208470
• ISBN-13: 978-1606208472
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,183,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Boy Makes Good Reading, September 6, 2000

By 

M (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adventures of Roderick Random (World's Classics) (Paperback)

If you ever saw Sheridan's play "The Rivals," you might have heard this book mentioned. It's the book the daughter doesn't want her mother to know she is reading.

It pre-dates Jane Eyre, but it has that poor-lonely-orphan-wronged-by-the-world quality to it. Picture Jane Eyre as a young, red-headed Scotsman with a thin-skin, bad temper and active libido. Roderick's going to London reminded me of D'Artagnan arrival in Paris in "The Three Musketeers". His mere presence is often a cause of confict. There are insults, fights, brawls, battles, sea clashes, duels, and some more insults. Roderick is the world's punching bag and his own pride and scheming won't let him say, "I've had enough." All the while his hot blood is leading him into haylofts, bedrooms and yet more trouble.

Will this 18th-century punk ever wise up? Read for yourself. I suggest the Oxford World's Classics version. I didn't expect the footnotes, but they were a great boon. The language is archaic in places, so keep a dictionary handy.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Roistering Roderick, October 1, 2003

By 

Daniel Myers (Greenville, SC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Adventures of Roderick Random (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This book is a great deal of fun to read. It is lively, witty and amusing, as well as strikingly modern in displaying the vicissitudes of fortune in the character Roderick. These vagaries of fortune, from penury, to wealth, from imprisonment, to landed gent are also reflected in the vagaries in the moods virtues (or lack thereof) in our title character, thus lending Roderick, for most of the book, a three-dimensional aspect and not simply another cardboard cutout for an 18th century picaresque.-But the book does have its faults, particularly as we draw to what we foresee will be the inevitable end. It's just too pat for many modern readers to swallow. Or at least it is for this one. The Oxford edition's notes, while helpful in places, especially with nautical turns of phrase, and for those with a scholarly interest in the location of certain streets in the London in Smollet's day etc tend to become rather annoying at times, almost to the point of insulting the well-read reader's intelligence. Many times I found myself saying, "As if I could not have figured that out on my own from the context!" The book, not surprisingly, is at its best when it is at its most autobiographical and descriptive, particularly the passages of Roderick's first sea voyage. One of my favourite passages that illustrates the lively vitality and humour of both the character and the work comes when Roderick, feared to be dying of typhoid fever, is visited by a priest to make a last confession:

""Without doubt, you have been guilty of numberless transgressions, to which youth is subject, as swearing, drunkenness, whoredom, and adultery; tell me therefore, without reserve, the particulars of each, especially the last, that I may be acquainted with the true state of your conscience...."

Roderick, a thoroughgoing, Scottish Ant-Papist will have none of it and soon recovers.

I am reminded of Joseph Conrad's short story "Youth" which I recommend to all who enjoy this book. - But, in the end, Conrad's story is the philosophically deeper and more true-to-life narrative than this one.-Again, the ending, for this reader, was just too pat and soppy. I am not trying to be a "spoiler" here and ruin the reading of the book and imperiling this review, by telling you potential readers what it is. You don't need me for that. You will have figured it out about a hundred pages before the end. And, for the record, I believe that this misguided idea of not being able to include the reviewer's analysis of a book's ending seriously handicaps the reviewer as well as insults the reader's intelligence. ---But, I have to abide by the rules in order that this review be posted. So be it.

Anyway, a delightful 18th century romp, until the predictable winding down.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible Edition, March 27, 2010

By 

J. Pease - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Adventures of Roderick Random (Paperback)

The book itself is full of wit and is a strong satirical work. It is a mock-epic/picturesque novel. What I have a problem with is this particular edition. I was missing the first chapter and there were several other large mistakes with the novel.
The book is a difficult read, but can be worth it.