An Abbreviated Life
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Jeremy Lewis is unabashedly fond of Tobias Smollett and feels he's underrated. In witty, charming, but straightforward prose the author tells us why, as a youth, he enjoyed Smollett: he liked the type of humour - there was a lot of farce, sexual and otherwise, and there was a lot of humour based on bodily functions. Also, Mr. Lewis had a lot of trouble following complicated plots and Smollett kept things relatively simple. Similar to Dickens (who was an admirer), Smollett was wonderful at "painting a word picture," at describing a character's physical appearance as well as the external world. The author, to his credit, is not ashamed to admit that what he enjoyed about Smollett then is still very appealing to him now. But though this book is not overly analytical in a scholarly sense, neither is it shallow. Mr. Lewis acknowledges that Smollett had weaknesses: he wasn't much good at evoking the inner life of his characters, nor did they develop much during the course of the narrative. Hence, they came across as a bit one dimensional. As a person who has never read anything by Smollett, I especially appreciated that Mr. Lewis included quite a few excerpts from both Smollett's fiction and non-fiction. I was able to get a "feel" for the style of writing and now know that I would like to read "Roderick Random," "Humphry Clinker," and "Travels Through France And Italy." Although Mr. Lewis states that relatively little is known about Smollett's personal life, we do find out that he appeared to have been happily married, and he was devastated by the death, as a teenager , of his only child (a daughter). Based on excerpts from the writings of Smollett, his friends, and enemies, we also get a nicely rounded picture of Smollett's personality: he was witty, warm, generous, sensitive and convivial. He was also extremely touchy about slights, real and imagined, and also concerning criticism of himself and his work. He was a bit of a hypochondriac, but unlike many hypochondriacs he had a reason to be - his health was never that good. Another excellent aspect of this biography is that Mr. Lewis uses Smollett as a "launching pad" so that we can learn a lot about 18th century life. Smollett had medical training and worked, while young, as a sea-surgeon. Thus, we learn about the world of medicine, and about life at sea, circa 1740. (I learned enough to know that if I had lived back then, I would have remained on dry land. I also would have prayed, on a daily basis, that my health remained good.) Smollett was medically modern in some respects: he believed in the benefits of moderation in food and drink, as well as in the health inducing properties of lots of fresh air and exercise. He practiced what he preached. When his own health allowed him to (he seems to have suffered from asthma and, possibly, consumption) he enjoyed working up a sweat - for example, by swimming in the ocean. Smollett was also up-to-date in that he wrote for the market, rather than for a patron. He lived in the days when the middle-class was coming into its own, with "disposable income." Literary reviews, magazines, etc. were appearing and disappearing with bewildering rapidity. Smollett, needing to generate income, both started his own review and was a "pen-for-hire." A goodly portion of the book is devoted to the "word-wars," as Smollett and his contemporaries criticize each other's work and also engage in broadsides regarding the political issues of the day. Things could get childish: Smollett was referred to as "Smallwit" and "Smelfungus." Also, as a native of Scotland, Smollett was frequently wounded by nasty comments made by the English concerning himself and his homeland. He was a patriotic Englishman, but he and his countrymen were not trusted. Scottophobia was rampant (Smollett was 24 when "Bonnie" Prince Charlie tried to restore the House of Stuart to its "rightful" position). Smollett wrote like a man possessed - by a need to pay the bills. Mr. Lewis is the first to admit that not everything Smollett turned his pen to was very good. Some of the fiction was churned out too quickly and rambled on and on. Some of his non-fiction was inadequately researched and he sometimes "borrowed" without acknowledgement from previous authors. In any case, it is likely that overwork contributed to Smollett's death at the age of 50. One of the few weaknesses of the book is that the author jumps back and forth between Smollett's fictional creations and "real life." You sometimes have to re-read a section to clarify if you are reading about fantasy or reality. (This is an occasional, rather than a major, problem.) Mr. Lewis had 2 main objectives in writing this book: he wanted to rescue Smollett from the shadow of Henry Fielding and he wanted to get people to start reading some of Smollett's better work. I think this biography will be successful on both counts.
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