Showing results for "Tobias Smollett" in Literary History & Criticism

You can call me Dr. Fathom. Or Count Fathom. But I'm not who I say I am. And can you blame me? My mother was a soldiers' harlot who pocketed extra loot by wandering through the battlefield stripping the dead and dying of valuables. I don't even know who my father was, except he must have had my handsome looks. People liked looking at me. And people liked how I talked too. Early on, I learned that telling the truth didn't get you the same quick reward as telling them what they wanted to hear, being assiduously charming, dissimulating. In a word, lying. I became good at it. And I became the ...

Join me, Roderick Random, on my contemporary odyssey through the highs and lows of orphan-hood, the clutches of poverty, the grasp of press gangs, and the pressure of maintaining a fashionable appearance despite it all. My adventures will introduce you to the colorful characters of eighteenth-century England, from audacious highway robbers and scandalous monks, to indebted gallants and corrupt officials. With my trusty sidekick, Strap, and my cherished friend Miss Williams, a reformed lady of the night, we navigate the challenges life throws at us. My tales, steeped in the wisdom of the ...

I am Roderick Random. This is the contemporary story of my struggle against the adversity of orphan-hood, poverty, press gangs, bloody duels, rival fortune hunters, and the challenge to be well-dressed through it all. In the course of recounting my adventures to you, dear reader, I will give you a front row seat to the characters of English eighteenth century life including highway robbers, womanizing monks, debt-laden gallants, lecherous corrupt officials, effeminate sea captains, bloodthirsty surgeons, and my dear friend Miss Williams, a reformed prostitute. Educated in the classics, armed ...