The History and Adventures of an Atom is a novel by Tobias Smollett, first published in 1769. The novel savagely satirises English politics during the Seven Years' War.
The History and Adventures of an Atom is a novel by Tobias Smollett, first published in 1769. The novel savagely satirises English politics during the Seven Years' War.
It appears under the guise of a tale from ancient Japan. William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham appears as Taycho, and other politicians, monarchs and nations under a light disguise of made-up names. It includes some comments on the Kingdom of Great Britain's growing problems with its American colonies.
The 'atom' is the supposed narrator, a witness to the events and somehow able to communicate them to modern listeners. Smollett is referring back to the ancient Greek idea of atoms, the ideas of Democritus—though, of course, he is also being satirical.
The book was published anonymously in 1769. Smollett's authorship of the book has been disputed, but it is generally included and discussed among his works. [1] [2] Writing in 1821, Sir Walter Scott wrote, "The chief purpose of the work (besides that of giving the author the opportunity to raise his hand, like that of Ishmael, against every man) is to inspire a national horror of continental connexions." [3]
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson, which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying.
Andrew Lang was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.
Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre.
Tobias George Smollett was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), which influenced later novelists, including Charles Dickens. His novels were amended liberally by printers; a definitive edition of each of his works was edited by Dr O. M. Brack Jr to correct such variations.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1760.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1769.
The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a mock serious manner.
François-Vincent Toussaint was a French writer most famous for Les Mœurs. The book was published in 1748 and banned the same year; it was prosecuted and burned by the French court of justice.
Illustrated fiction is a hybrid narrative medium in which images and text work together to tell a story. It can take various forms, including fiction written for adults or children, magazine fiction, comic strips, and picture books.
The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves, the fourth novel by Tobias Smollett, was published in 1760. The novel, Smollett's shortest, was published in serial style, starting with the first issue of the monthly paper The British Magazine, in January 1760, and ending with the magazine's December 1761 issue. The first bound book edition was published in 1762.
Augustan prose is somewhat ill-defined, as the definition of "Augustan" relies primarily upon changes in taste in poetry. However, the general time represented by Augustan literature saw a rise in prose writing as high literature. The essay, satire, and dialogue thrived in the age, and the English novel was truly begun as a serious art form. At the outset of the Augustan age, essays were still primarily imitative, novels were few and still dominated by the Romance, and prose was a rarely used format for satire, but, by the end of the period, the English essay was a fully formed periodical feature, novels surpassed drama as entertainment and as an outlet for serious authors, and prose was serving every conceivable function in public discourse. It is the age that most provides the transition from a court-centered and poetic literature to a more democratic, decentralized literary world of prose.
This article lists notable films and books set or with a significant scene in Edinburgh, Scotland, and other aspects of popular culture:
Adventure fiction is a genre of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom is a novel by Tobias Smollett first published in 1753. It was Smollett's third novel and met with less success than his two previous more picaresque tales. The central character is a villainous dandy who cheats, swindles and philanders his way across Europe and England with little concern for the law or the welfare of others. The son of an equally disreputable mother, Smollett himself comments that "Fathom justifies the proverb, 'What's bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh". Sir Walter Scott commented that the novel paints a "complete picture of human depravity"
The novel in Scotland includes all long prose fiction published in Scotland and by Scottish authors since the development of the literary format in the eighteenth century. The novel was soon a major element of Scottish literary and critical life. Tobias Smollett's picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle mean that he is often seen as Scotland's first novelist. Other Scots who contributed to the development of the novel in the eighteenth century include Henry Mackenzie and John Moore.
Scottish literature in the eighteenth century is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers in the eighteenth century. It includes literature written in English, Scottish Gaelic and Scots, in forms including poetry, drama and novels. After the Union in 1707 Scottish literature developed a distinct national identity. Allan Ramsay led a "vernacular revival", the trend for pastoral poetry and developed the Habbie stanza. He was part of a community of poets working in Scots and English who included William Hamilton of Gilbertfield, Robert Crawford, Alexander Ross, William Hamilton of Bangour, Alison Rutherford Cockburn, and James Thompson. The eighteenth century was also a period of innovation in Gaelic vernacular poetry. Major figures included Rob Donn Mackay, Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir, Uillean Ross and Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, who helped inspire a new form of nature poetry. James Macpherson was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation, claiming to have found poetry written by Ossian. Robert Burns is widely regarded as the national poet.
The novel of circulation, otherwise known as the it-narrative, or object narrative, is a genre of novel common at one time in British literature, and follows the fortunes of an object, for example a coin, that is passed around between different owners. Sometimes, instead, it involves a pet or other domestic animal, as for example in Francis Coventry's The History of Pompey the Little (1751). This and other such works blended satire with the interest for contemporary readers of a roman à clef. They also use objects such as hackney-carriages and bank-notes to interrogate what it meant to live in an increasingly mobile society, and to consider the effect of circulation on human relations.
Alien: The Illustrated Story or simply Alien, is a sixty-four page critically acclaimed graphic novel adaptation of the 1979 science-fiction horror film Alien published by Heavy Metal magazine in 1979. It was scripted by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Walt Simonson. It is the first comic from the Alien franchise and one of few of the franchises comic publications which is not associated with the long-lasting Aliens line from Dark Horse Comics. The book was a major critical and commercial success and was the first comic to ever be listed on the New York Times Bestsellers list.
Walter Stanley Paget was a British illustrator of the late 19th and early 20th century, who signed his work as "Wal Paget". Paget held a gold medal from the Royal Academy of Arts, and was the youngest of three brothers, Henry M. Paget (eldest) and Sidney Paget, all illustrators.
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