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Tobias Smollett (1721-1771) is best known today as a novelist, but in the eighteenth-century, he was regarded as a historian and critic. In this book, Richard J. Jones explores the diversity of Smollett's journalistic and literary writings and establishes new connections between Smollett's work and writers of the Scottish Enlightenment. The book takes as its focal point Smollett's visit to Nice, between 1763 and 1765, and the account he wrote of it in Travels through France and Italy (1766). This account is usually seen as a "travel narrative" but Jones argues that it should be read as a "pocket encyclopedia" in the tradition of Voltaire. Jones divides his study into sections on medicine, fine art, the theater and history. In doing so, he offers a productive juxtaposition of authors, texts and contexts, presenting Smollett as a writer whose Scottish (and particularly Glaswegian) identity informed his involvement in a wider European Enlightenment.
List of contents
1 Acknowledgments 2 Abbreviations 3 Introduction 4 i. Smollett and the Enlightenment in Glasgow 5 ii. Travels through France and Italy 6 iii. Attribution 7 Chapter One: A Physical Gentleman 8 i. Smollett and Medicine 9 ii. Water 10 iii. Natural History 11 Chapter Two: A Good Critic 12 i. Smollett and the Fine Arts 13 ii. Francis Hutcheson and Thomas Reid 14 iii. Adam Smith 15 Chapter Three: A Theatrical Divine 16 i. Smollett and the Theatre 17 ii. Novels and Performances 18 iii. Carnival 19 Chapter Four: A Friend of Virtue 20 i. Smollett and History 21 ii. David Hume and the Stuarts 22 iii. George III 23 Conclusion 24 Bibliography
About the author
By Richard J. Jones
