The Adventures of Roderick Random

<b>Money Makes the World Go Round, and It Might Even Bring About Some Marriages</b><br /><br />Oh, what ups and downs, what periods of joy, enthusiasm, high hopes, and then what vales of languishing interest, of gnarly monotony and wearying spirits! In case you may be wondering, I’m not yet talking of the life of Roderick Random himself, to which these oppositions may undoubtedly be applied as well, but of my reading experience of Tobias Smollett’s first novel, which nowadays goes by the title of <i>The Adventures of Roderick Random</i> (1748). There were nights when I would sit and devour chapter after chapter, especially after the eponymous hero has been pressed into navy service and suffers from the tyranny of a high-handed captain and an under-handed, obsequious surgeon, but then there were also nights when sleep was the more attractive option in comparison to reading about the perfections and the discretion of Narcissa and the hero’s going nuts about her.<br /><br />All in all, though, I don’t regret reading this novel, which was probably one of the sub-texts Dickens had in mind when he sent Mr. Pickwick and his friends on a tour through contemporary England, because Smollett’s no-nonsense materialism is an apt counterpoise to the necessity he found himself under to pander to the sentimentalities and the sense of propriety of some of his readers. Thus, one can bear with the cardboard non-entity of Narcissa for all her blandness because, after all, Roderick is a young man that has his faults, plenty of them, as well as his more redeeming qualities and is therefore able to arouse our interest. The novel is basically about money and how important it is to secure it, and at one point in the novel Roderick is even willing to go dowry-hunting – without the first-person-narrator’s taking this as an opportunity to start moralizing and boring us to death – in order to make his fortune. Money is the root of all evil: It makes people plot against their own relations, resort to theft, embezzlement and fraud, it makes our hero degrade himself in many different ways, but – here Smollett remains realistic – it is also the basis of a life in security and comfort. Thus, whenever Roderick, who does not scruple in the least about living off the means of his rather simple-minded friend Hugh Strap, does somebody a good turn money-wise, he will make a point of mentioning this to the reader.<br /><br /><i>Roderick Random</i> is at times very sordid in its realism, displaying his character’s obsession with material wealth and with sexual adventure, which may have helped the novel forfeit the good opinion of many a Victorian reader, and yet this is probably why it can be read as a social novel. Smollett’s criticism of the British navy and of the <i>Literaturbetrieb</i>, i.e. the scene of publishers and patrons, is visceral, and in the respective passages he manages to give haunting descriptions of human misery and desperation. Here Smollett heavily draws from his own personal experience. At other times (or rather, at the same time), he can also be very funny, as the following three examples may show:<br /><br /><blockquote>”’There's a sneaking dog! I always thought him a fellow without a soul, d--n me, a canting scoundrel, who has crept into business by his hypocrisy, and kissing the a--e of every body.’ – ‘Ay, ay,’ says another, ‘one might see with half an eye that the rascal has no honesty in him, by his going so regularly to church.’” (Chapter VII)</blockquote><br /><br /><br /><blockquote>”Thus equipped, I put on the gentleman of figure, and, attended by my honest friend, who was contented with the station of my valet, visited the Louvre, examined the gallery of Luxembourg, and appeared at Versailles, where I had the honour of seeing his Most Christian Majesty eat a considerable quantity of olives.” (Chapter XLIV)</blockquote><br /><br />Yes, even kings eat olives, probably with a view to maintaining the effects of their anointment.<br /><br /><blockquote>”Baffled hitherto in my matrimonial schemes, I began to question my talents for the science of fortune-hunting, and to bend my thoughts towards some employment under the government.” (Chapter LI)</blockquote><br /><br />So anyone who is too clumsy but not too scrupulous to go fortune-hunting and prostitute themselves <i>this way</i> will end up in the government? Surely, this is jumping to conclusions. Some of these people will probably also go into Parliament.<br /><br /><br />Strange as it may sound, but it was exactly his lack of moral impeccability in unison with the spirit of generosity and his ability to feel for others that made Roderick dear to me as a reader even though I cringed at the narrator’s, and possibly the author’s, double moral standards, which exact chastity and virginity from a lady like Narcissa but at the same time allow her husband-in-spe to have a good time with many a buxom wench. Tobias Smollett was a man of his time in this and many other ways, e.g. he does not refrain from using the anti-Semitic stereotype of the Jewish usurer and lecher to entertain the reader, and he also grasps many an opportunity to polemicise against homosexuals, and although this goes against the grain, it does not dominate the tone of the novel but is restricted to some few passages.<br /><br />I must say that even though Roderick behaves with little intelligence and discretion in some situations, even though he callously exploits his somehow dumb companion Strap, whom he looks down on as his inferior, even though he has a rash temper and is rather inclined to filthy lucre, which, by the way, is not so filthy after all on a rainy day, I quite like this boisterous blockhead because he is human in all these follies and does not wholly forget the benefit of other people – and so, we might not actually want to identify with him, but still we cannot deny that there is some Rodericity in all of us.<br />

Έχω μεγάλη συμπάθεια για βιβλία αυτού του στυλ. Ανάλαφρα, με την πλοκή να ρέει συνέχεια αλλά ταυτόχρονα καθόλου επιφανειακά. Το συγκεκριμένο έχει αρκετά vibes από <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/26066357.___________________________________" title="Ιστορία του Ζιλ Μπλας ντε Σαντιλιάν by Alain-René Le Sage" rel="noopener">Ιστορία του Ζιλ Μπλας ντε Σαντιλιάν</a> και <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/11553408._______________________________________________________" title="Η ζωή και οι απόψεις του Τρίστραμ Σάντι, κυρίου από σόι by Laurence Sterne" rel="noopener">Η ζωή και οι απόψεις του Τρίστραμ Σάντι, κυρίου από σόι</a>. <br /><br />Σε αφήνει με ένα περίεργο συναίσθημα: από την μια σε ταξιδεύει πίσω στον χρόνο αλλά από την άλλη είναι τόσο διαχρονικό που νομίζεις ότι αναφέρεται σε ανθρώπους και καταστάσεις του σήμερα...<br /><br />

Compared to Humphrey Clinker, RR is a bit lacking. Compared to all the world's other novels, though, it's great. As ever with the 18th century, you need to adjust your expectations: the characters are 'flat,' there's no psychologizing, the plot meanders with little internal purpose, and there's no politesse. On the other hand, there's a wonderful variety of people and voices, there are dozens of hilarious little narratives, and the little satires--particularly, here, the dancing naked philosopher-poet, who ends up in debtor's prison after getting screwed around by publishers and producers--are far more powerful than the so-called satires of our time. <br /><br />There's also a larger point to Random's adventures. He starts off in Scotland. There's no reason for the travels that follow, except the sort of purpose no novelist could get away with now: Smollett wants to show us the depravity of the entire human species, so Random has to hang out with provincials, rurals, urbans, domestics, foreigners, men, women, nobles, peasants, workers, bosses, servants, masters, criminals, judges etc... If you can think of an opposing pair, Random meets each member of it, and they're both shitheads. Only once he's gone more or less around the world and met everyone can the book come to its comedic conclusion, in which a series of literally incredible coincidences bring Random, and his glorious sidekick Strap, love and loot. As in Humphrey Clinker, Smollett's point is: this shit only happens in novels, the world sucks, and you need to admit that. On the upside, the shit is very, very funny. <br /><br />Cervantes is obviously a big influence on this book: the pointless, entertaining adventures; the lower-class sidekick (you could easily mistake Strap for Sancho); the rough and ready humor; the complete indifference to consistency in characters' psychology or actions. RR isn't quite as entertaining, but it was Smollett's first book and it's written in the first person. Given those disadvantages, it's pretty impressive. On the other hand, I can't imagine it winning many readers. <br /><br />An edition that listed the chapter contents at the start would be a good idea; then it'd be easier to skip straight to the best bits. That aside, this edition is a good one--solid introduction, good notes.

Μέχρι σήμερα πίστευα πως η σειρά Orbis Literae της Gutenberg ήταν γεμάτη από βαριά βιβλία, γεμάτα μοχθηρούς καλογερους και φαντάσματα που κυκλοφορούν ανάμεσα από τοίχους, πολεμοχαρείς μοχθηρούς ευγενείς και αφελείς αλλά καλόκαρδους χωρικούς που είναι ικανοί να πιστέψουν τα πάντα. Ε ναι λοιπόν, οι περιπέτειες του Ρόντερικ Ράντομ, έχουν ακριβώς αυτά τα χαρακτηριστικά με μία ειδοποιό διαφορά, σε αντιπαραβολή με το Μελμώθ, τον Καλόγερο ή ακόμα και το Μόμπι Ντικ, του λείπει το γκόθικ στοιχείο, οπότε διαβάζεται χαλαρά, ανάλαφρα και χωρίς εκείνο το διαρκή φόβο που σε κάνει να σηκώνεις τα μάτια από τη σελίδα κάθε φορά που ο αέρας κάνει τις πόρτες του μπαλκονιού να τρίζουν ρωτώντας τον εαυτό σου «Και αν δεν είναι ο αέρας...»;<br />Ο ήρωας του Τομπάηας Σμόλετ, είναι ο Forest Gump των Σκωτσέζων, ο Δον Κιχώτης των Χάηλαντζ, ο Θούβου των μαθητευόμενων χειρούργων, δε βάζει κακό με το νού του, βοηθάει όποιον βρεθεί στο διάβα του έχοντας πάντα στο μυαλό του βέβαια πώς να πιάσει την καλή, αλλά ο κόσμος είναι κακός, και πάντα την ώρα του λογαριασμού βρίσκεται στην πλευρά του Κογιότ και όχι του Μπιμπίπ, και πληρώνει αδρά, και μαλώνει, και παλεύει, και μαχαιρώνεται, και πληγώνεται συναισθηματικά, και ταξιδεύει, και ξαναπληγώνεται αυτή τη φορά από ξίφος, και όλα γίνονται ξανά και ξανά και ξανά μέχρι που στο τέλος...<br />Δε θα αποκαλυψω τι γίνεται στο τέλος, δεν έχει σημασία το τι γίνεται στο τέλος, ολόκληρο το βιβλίο είναι ένα ταξίδι μέσα στην καθημερινότητα της ζωής όπου η πραγματικότητα σε πνίγει αλλά η ελπίδα σε κρατάει στην επιφάνεια ώστε την επόμενη μέρα να ξαναπροσπαθήσεις με όλη σου τη δύναμη, σαν το χτες να μη συνέβη ποτέ.<br />Δύναμη ο Ρόντερικ, δεν το συζητώ.

I’m wondering if there used to be something wrong with me, or perhaps if I’ve got thicker over the years, because I took great pleasure in reading Smollett’s ‘Humphrey Clinker’ when I was an undergraduate but I’ve just found ‘Roderick Random’, which I’ve been eager to read for years, a bit of a slog.<br /><br />I’ve given it four stars because even though it was a little tedious to read its stance as an early novel of some importance means I’d feel rude rating it any lower.<br /><br />A kind of picaresque Bildungsroman, it lacked a lot of the humour I found in ‘Humphrey clinker’, although this was one of Smollett’s earlier novels so maybe he hadn’t found his funny bone yet. I also think the later text benefitted from an epistolary format while the narration of this was rather fixed and dominant. There were times when it was all too evident that the implied narrator/Smollett had suffered the same horrors (particularly in the world of publishing) that his ‘hero’ Roderick Random undergoes.<br /><br />I’m sure I’ll regret it when I’m half way through, but I’m still keen to read ‘Peregrine Pickle’ which I believe continues certain threads from Random. I’m also wondering if I should re-read Clinker to get to the bottom of whether I was mentally impaired when I last read it or if it is actually hilarious!

Though not into reading this likely drudge at first, it proved overtime a funny collection of foul tricks played at Roderick's expense. The language and amusing use of nicknames prevents it from being a mere harrowing account of misfortunes but turn it into a jumble of errands, sprinkled with wit!<br /><br />Read in the 1958 Everyman's Library edition.

Ίσως λίγο φλύαρο και αφελές για τα σημερινά δεδομένα.

3.5 stars. An entertaining, pleasant, engaging novel about the young Roderick Random’s eventful life in corrupt and violent times. I particularly enjoyed his time as an assistant ship’s medical officer. Roderick is lucky to meet a number of people who are willing to support him financially. Roderick is handsome, educated, a gambler. On occasions he finds himself in financial difficulties due to his spending habits. He isn’t adverse to marrying a woman who is wealthy.<br /><br />First published in 1748.

'Roderick Random' was Smollett's first novel, and it is his best. It is a brawling, picaresque romp, like Fielding crossed with Dickens: less polished than Fielding, much coarser than Dickens, but always great fun. It is a fascinating insight into the society of its day, and demonstrates Smollett's intimate knowledge of medicine and of the navy (and of being in debt). Roderick's experiences as a ship's surgeon are horrifying to read.<br /> <br />Roderick is portrayed as honest and true-hearted, which is true enough – he is a likeable character - although the constant series of rogueries and seductions that he engages in (excused by his good breeding and lack of funds) indicate the degree of latitude that Eighteenth Century morality extended to its heroes, while demanding that its heroines retain their virtue at all costs.<br /> <br />Smollett was the kind of writer whose first book was bound to be his best, since he wrote best about what he knew best. His subsequent novels fell off somewhat – particularly those where he relied on his own invention, rather than personal experience - although he rallied strongly towards the end of his career, with the mellow observational humour of ‘Humphrey Clinker’.

Not as entertaining as some of the other novels I’ve read from this era (when a novel really was novel) but still quite enjoyable. The author clearly enjoyed Don Quixote and wanted to make his own version. It mostly works. He shares with Cervantes some actual experience in going to sea which lends an historical shade to the story.<br /><br />The paragraphs are overlong and you have to wade through a kind of casual sexism and racism of the day in parts but I’ve endured much worse. There’s really only one racist episode but it is very cringey looking back through the historical lens as we are.