Customer Reviews

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (The World's Classics)

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One of the great things about these Amazon customer reviews is that they can alert you to wonderful books that you would otherwise not consider reading. "Humphry Clinker" is a prime example. An eighteenth-century epistolary novel may not sound too enticing and I would guess that few people other than students whose courses oblige them to, would read it these days. Well, I am here to tell you that you should! It is social satire at its brilliant best. Smollett satirized English society mercilessly, but was even harder on his fellow Scots. The result is a novel that is a continual and wicked joy to read.

The characters are finely drawn and their correspondence is written in very individual voices. We follow their adventures as they journey through England and Scotland in the years before revolution in America and France changed the world forever. It is a world obsessed with social class, money and advantageous marriage (so why did I say it changed for ever!). There is plenty of sharp humor and a deal of profound insight into human nature. Smollett's last and best novel, it is a wise and mature journal of Mankind's folly.

Incidentally, the graphic description of the spa town of Bath will make you never want to drink spa water again. Reading that particular chapter requires a strong stomach.

his great novel, written in 1771, is one of those books that is written so much in the present moment of its own time that it becomes a valuable and fascinating time capsule for future generations. There is no more entertaining way to visit another time and place. There is no need for you to come to the novel already knowing anything about the eighteenth century, because Smollett has his sharp observant mind and all five of his senses open to his world for you--here you will read all of the sights, sounds, tastes, touches, and most memorably of all (for better and for worse) the *smells* of what surrounds him.

The grumpy-old-man-with-a-heart-of-gold Matthew Bramble takes his family and assorted hangers-on for a tour of Great Britain, visiting Bath, London, and many other places along the way. For lovers of Scotland, you are in for a treat here, as Smollett writes this novel as an important "P.R." job for his homeland to his skeptical English readers. The descriptions of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Hebrides make you want to book your airline tickets right away; Smollett has an eye for those aspects of the Scottish landscape and Scottish people that haven't really changed in the last 250 years.

This is an epistolary novel, written entirely in the form of letters with no central narrator.
The strength of this format is that it allows the reader to see the same places and events from the (sometimes radically different) perspective of more than one person. As a result, you get comedy, tragedy, farce, romance, satire, and a good adventure story all in one enjoyable package.

One word of caution, though: because of the epistolary format and the travelogue format, you shouldn't really approach "Humphry Clinker" with the expectations of finding a strong unified plot. This is something that we get mostly from the novels of the late eighteenth century and certainly the Victorian novels of the nineteenth century. There IS a plot--a good one--but just don't expect the plot to be the star of the show. If you read it as a series of memorable and sharply drawn sketches and characters and places, and for how well it captures what is unique to the time and place in which it is written, I think you will enjoy it a great deal.

Tobias Smollett's 1771 novel, "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker," took me almost two months to read. The novel, a "sort of novel," as Dr. Johnson once said, I think of his own "Rasselas," doesn't really have a plot, which contributes to the pacing, which is slow, but highly enjoyable. From the beginning of April through the end of November, basically from the season of planting through the season of reaping, Squire Bramble, an irascible hypochondriac of a Welshman, and his family engage upon a series of travels which lead them from Wales through England to Scotland and back again.

An epistolary novel, "Humphry Clinker" is no stranger in format to the eighteenth century - however, odd to me was the fact that none of the writers - Squire Bramble, his sister Tabitha, their nephew and niece Jery and Lydia Melford, and Tabitha's waiting woman Winifred - ever receives a response. The letters of the Bramble expedition encompass a wide range of topics, along a range of experience and sentiment, of interaction, which itself is a veritable buffet of later eighteenth century customs, coffeehouse culture, civil engineering, agriculture, speech, fashion, science, moral philosophy, art, and manners spanning Wales, England, and Scotland, both in countryside and cityscape.

As such, the novel has a number of preoccupations - the social and political relations between different countries which comprised the then-British Empire - English-Scottish relations in particular are a focus, some 71 years after the Act of Union, and were pretty fascinating to me. There are a number of references to America, and to the Native Americans, which the Scot Cadwallader Colden had written of only a few years before in his "History of the Five Indian Nations." England's own internal politics are reflected on throughout the novel. The debate over luxury, a hot eighteenth century topic, is constantly in the background of the Bramble family's letters.

The letters of Squire Bramble to his doctor-friend Lewis and Jery Melford's to his college friend Wat Phillips comprise the bulk of the novel, and as with so many epistolary novels, their letters often tell us as much about their circumstances and exploits as they do about the writers themselves. These are both heroes of sensibility, a young and an old whose ages frequently provide interesting takes on the same events. Such can be said about the other writers as well - From the Squire to Jery to Tabitha to Lydia to Winifred - we are given a wealth of perspective and language - valuable lenses all to form our own opinions of the events, such as they are, that transpire in their travels. Their various perspectives on two of the novel's minor characters, the eponymous Humphry Clinker and the combative disputant Scot Obadiah Lismahago (the most cosmopolitan figure among the recurring characters), confer substance, interest, and warmth upon characters who do not themselves write letters.

As valuable and entertaining a travelogue as Voltaire's "Letters Upon England," or Smollett-rival Laurence Sterne's "Sentimental Journey through France and Italy," and as simultaneously celebratory and critical of sentimentality as Henry Mackenzie's "The Man of Feeling," "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker" was my first experience with Tobias Smollett, and certainly shall not be my last. Empahses on religion and reason, on intellect and emotion, on the state of marriage, on the Horatian preoccupation with how to live the good life, interest in literature and culture, and an almost universal eye for satire and critique make "Humphry Clinker" well worth taking the time to read slowly. It is a novel which I found both entertaining and edifying. Surely, a "great original."

Several years ago I found an old, unedited Signet paperback of "Humphrey Clinker" and read it without any recommendation other than it's cover, which displayed caricatures of Captain Lismahago and Tabitha Bramble--two of Smollett's comic personae. I found it to be fascinating, high-spirited, and very funny. I recently reread the Oxford paperback edition and was not disappointed. Smollett's book was written during a time of great intellectual enlightenment and social upheaval. The letters of the central character, Squire Matthew Bramble contain wonderful observations and critical commentary of this period in British history. The epistolary format,with several different writers, allows for multiple viewpoints and works much like an omniscient narrator. The letters they write reveal much about the characters--all of whom fail to be completely objective in their outlook. The malapropisms of Tabitha and her lady's maid Winifred are wonderfully allusive and often hilarious. Although the book loses some momentum during some of the Scottish chapters, it is a pleasure to read. "Humphry Clinker" is rich in insight and humor. I highly recommend it.

A high recommendation for this book lead me to read it. What an enjoyable trip into the past.

The author writes letters as more than half-a-dozen characters, and they are a very interesting batch of folks. Mr. Bramble and his family, Dr. Lewis, Tabitha, and of course, Winifred Jenkins, who can murder the language beyond imigination travel through England and Scotland and tell of their experiences on the trip. Oh yea, let's not forget Chowder. They are a lively batch, with various health and social situations that make for interesting correspondance. The title character, Humphey Clinker joins the party mid-trip, and helps make matters very interesting, starting in as a man-servant. It's best not to discuss the contents of the letters. The discovery while reading is very enjoyable!

Don't expect a very fast read, as the old style English (and Mrs. Jenkins verbal assaults) makes for a somewhat slow pace, and make sure to have a dictionary handy. Some words, even though familiar to the reader, are best looked up for the 2nd or 3rd definition of meaning (such as "ejaculation").

It's very easy to see why early Americans enjoyed this book. A rememberance of life in Old England, it pokes fun at many personalities that they are sure to have encountered. Last suggestion, do as David McCullough did, and read it twice. The second time is much more entertaining.

Full of social satire. A comedy with pathos. Insightful verbal blunders. This picaresque book of travel letters is a hoot with a most satisfying conclusion as the characters get their come-uppance and rewards. I love the distinct and lively images that shine through the puns, word games, and allusions.

I was so disappointed in this Penguin edition. The Penguin Classics usually do a wonderful job with notes at the back, explaining terms and references that are obscure to modern readers. This is a delightful story but the 18th C vocabulary can be tough going, even for those of us accustomed to reading such books. Penguin has left far too many terms unexplained. Unless you've got a Latin reference book, an OED, and historical slang reference books at hand, you're probably going to get frustrated with the language--and you'll miss a great deal of the humor. This edition does Smollett a great disservice. I highly recommend HUMPRHY CLINKER, but I'd advise anyone who isn't an 18th C scholar to buy the Norton Critical Edition instead.

Humphrey Clinker is a 17th century epistolary novel which tells the tale of the Bramble family and its travels through England and Scotland. The letters are written by Matthew Bramble, the family head; Tabitha Bramble, his increasingly desperate unmarried sister; Winifred Jenkins, Tabitha Bramble's servant; Jery Melford, Matthew's Oxford educated nephew; and Lydia Melford, the lovestruck niece who most unfortunately fell for an actor.

The novel is rich and has many layers. The travels afford Smollet a fine device for social satire and observation. Smollet is best-known for his satiric writing, and he does have a serious bite. The way that he skewers the spas at Bath or (more gently) teases the English for their prejudices about Scotland are classic moments and very funny.

I think that in all the focus on the satire, however, something gets forgotten about the genuine warmth for the characters. I had been a little bit hesitant about reading Smollett in the past because of his legendary satiric harshness in books like Roderick Random and Peregrine Pickle. I only picked this up after reading an article on Smollet which opined that Humphrey Clinker was a much more mature novel than the early works-- not so much a picaresque satire and more of a full novel which functions on many levels. For all that Smollet does not gloss over the faults of his characters, there is still the feeling that he treats them with affection. It is difficult not to read Smollet into the character of Matthew Bramble. The grumpy gout-ridden old man who takes issue with nearly everything is eventually capable of some very genuine acts of kindness.

I also thought that it was worth mentioning that the book is very readable. It is easy to be frightened off by the 18th century-ness of it all. I read an unedited edition without notes, and had no trouble following the prose. I had to look a few words up and spend a little more time on some of the sections, but it still was relatively easy to read. I found that I did not mind spending more time with the book-- each letter was a rich source of observation, double entendres, warmth and humor.

I would recommend this book to all readers, not just the student of the 18th century novel. Particularly if you are a fan of writers like Dickens you may enjoy stretching your time period a little bit and picking up The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker.

In David McCullough's fine "John Adams" he mentions this was one of Adams' favorite books and, upon reading it, McCullough enjoyed it so much he read it twice. On that recommendation I bought it sight unseen. When it arrived I thought I'd made a mistake. A novel made up entirely of letters (correspondence) written in less than easy to penetrate 18th century English. But after slogging through the first dozen pages or so I admit I got hooked. The characters are wonderful and the story line can get very funny. A wonderful window on the 1760s in Great Britain. Using letters to tell the story is clever, although the plot line is constantly told in past tense and there is some redundancy. At any rate, it was worth the effort.

I read the Penguin Classics edition. Editor's introduction, notes and glossary make this an easy and enjoyable read. It's hilarious and at the same time very real to the reader. Criticism at its best. Many of Smollett's observations of humanity's condition would apply today as it did in eighteenth century Britain. Humanity really doesn't change much. It's easy to see why John Adams considered it a must for his library.