The life and adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves
By: edited with an introd. by David Evans.
Series: Oxford English novels
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1973
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 234
Subjects: Knights and knighthood -- Fiction; Quests (Expeditions) -- Fiction; Mentally ill -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction.
Description: "The novel, Smollett's shortest, differs stylistically from his previous works. The most attractive of his heroes, Sir Launcelot is virtuous and strange, and he is surrounded by a Smollettian menagerie whose various jargons are part of this novel's linguistic virtuosity and satire. Sir Launcelot's character is an English naturalization of Quixote. Although Sir Launcelot, is not the object of the author's satire, an idealistic madness is central to both characters. In Smollett's work the theme of madness is integral to the relationship between self and society as the work ponders both the constitution of madness and the alternatives to revenge."
Notes: Bibliography: p. xxiii.
First published in book-form in 1762 under title: The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves.