The adventures of Roderick Random
By: Tobias Smollett ; edited with an introduction and notes by Paul-Gabriel Boucé.
Contributors: Boucé, Paul-Gabriel.
Series: Oxford world's classics
Publisher: Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 481
ISBN-13: 9780199552344
Subjects: Scots -- England -- Fiction; Rogues and vagabonds -- Fiction; Impressment -- Fiction; Warships -- Fiction; Sailors -- Fiction; England -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction
Description: "Roderick Random (1748), Smollett's first novel, is full of the dazzling vitality characteristics of all his work, as well as of his own life. Roderick is the boisterous and unprincipled hero who answers life's many misfortunes with a sledgehammer. Left penniless, he leaves his native Scotland for London and on the way meets Strap, and old schoolfellow. Together they undergo many adventures at the hands of scoundrels and rogues. Roderick qualifies as a surgeon's mate and is pressed as a common soldier on board the man-of-war Thunder. In a tale of romance as well as adventure, Roderick also finds time to fall in love... Smollett drew on his own experiences as a surgeon's mate in the navy for the memorable scenes on board ship, and the novel combines documentary realism with great humor and panache."--Publisher's description
Notes: Originally published in 1748. First published by Oxford University Press in 1979.

Includes bibliographical references.