The Adventures of Roderick Random.

The eighteenth-century novel could be a rough and rollicking thing, and Tobias Smollett's tale of a young man knocked about by the world is one of its liveliest examples, a comic, biting, sprawling adventure.

What it's about

The novel follows Roderick Random, a young Scotsman of good birth but poor fortune, as he makes his way through a hostile world in search of prosperity and love. Cheated, pressed into naval service, tossed across seas and countries, thrown among sharpers, snobs, and scoundrels, he endures a long chain of misadventures rendered with vivid, often savage energy. In the picaresque tradition, the episodic journey becomes a tour of Georgian society at every level, from the squalor of the lower decks to the pretensions of the fashionable world.

Themes

Smollett writes as a satirist, exposing cruelty, hypocrisy, corruption, and folly wherever his hero finds them. The book is unsparing about the brutality of naval life and the callousness of the powerful, yet it is also robustly comic, driven by a relish for human absurdity. Fortune, resilience, and the making of one's way in an indifferent world are its recurring concerns.

Why it still matters

A landmark of the early English novel, the book influenced the development of comic and picaresque fiction, admired by later writers for its vigour and range. Its firsthand-flavoured account of eighteenth-century naval life is itself a valuable historical portrait.

Who it's for

Readers who enjoy the early novel, picaresque adventure, and sharp-edged satire will find much to relish. It suits those with a taste for bawdy, boisterous storytelling and an unvarnished view of Georgian England.