Tobias Smollett 1721 -1771 Tobias George Smollett was the son of a Scottish landowner and was born near Dunbarton. He trained as a surgeon, but his medical career was not a success. Smollett joined the navy in the capacity of surgeon's mate. He sailed to the West Indies in 1741 where his experiences provided material for several of his later books. He began work as a novelist, publishing The Adventures of Roderick Random in 1748 to great acclaim. After a period of travel in Europe he moved to Chelsea and subsequently received his MD from Aberdeen before returning to Paris. This second foreign excursion was to inspire 1751's The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.

The Adventures of Roderick Random is a picaresque novel by Tobias Smollett, first published in 1748. It is partially based on Smollett's experience as a naval-surgeon’s mate in the British Navy, In the preface, Smollett acknowledges the connections of his novel to the two satirical picaresque works he translated into English: Gil Blas, Don Quixote The novel is set in the 1730s and 1740s and tells the life story (in the first person) of Roderick "Rory" Random, who was born to a Scottish gentleman and a lower-class woman and is thus shunned by his father's family. Smollett offers a vicious portrayal of the hypocrisy, greed, deceit and snobbery peculiar to the times, especially among the upper and middle classes. He exposes the brutality, incompetence and injustice of the Royal Navy.

Things were to take a turn for the worse later in 1760, however, as Smollett was fined Ł100 and imprisoned for three months for libel., the downturn in Smollett's fortunes only worsened with the death of his daughter in 1763 and the deterioration of his health. Abandoning his literary endeavours, Smollett left for France and Italy with his wife. His apparently miserable experiences there were published as his wonderfully / appallingly grouchy Travels in France and Italy, the year after his return in 1765. Laurence Sterne would famously parody Smollett as 'Smelfungus' in his own book of travels. Smollett's last years were spent writing some of his finest work, and his finest novel, The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker (1771). The author died in the year of its publication and is buried in the English cemetery in Leghorn, Italy. His last words are said to have been "All is well, my dear".

The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker a picaresque novel that was published shortly before his death in 1771. It is now regarded as his most accomplished novel, and is not coincidentally also his most mellow in outlook. His other novels and travel writing display a general hostility towards man and his actions, particularly when foreigners are involved. The novel satirises the society of the late eighteenth century to great effect and is held together with Smollett’s characteristically coarse sense of humour - usually at the expense of his characters and the stereotypes they represent.

All have distinctive writing styles, in particular Winifred who writes with the strange but just comprehensible idiolect of an illiterate. The characters travel variously in Gloucester, London and areas of Scotland such and there are numerous absurd and remarkable happenings such as disputes leading to duels, imprisonment, failed romances, jealousy and an inconveniently overturned carriage.

Laurence Sterne 1713 - 1768 Born in Clonmel, Ireland Education Hipperholme School, Halifax; Jesus College, Cambridge Ordained as a priest in 1738, He lived the life of a rural parson for two decades, until his literary career took off with the publication of the first volume of Tristram Shandy in 1759.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, the Gentleman Tristram Shandy was an instant hit. There were some dissenting voices and Dr Johnson famously dismissed the book in five words: "Nothing odd will do long." Two and a half centuries later, however, Tristram is widely regarded as the godfather of modernist literature. Sterne's wild experimentation with form and voice was a radical departure from the orderly, structurally unified novels of the day, such as Fielding's Tom Jones, and considerably ahead of its time.

in the novel he parodies not only the social world but the genre of the novel The structure of the novel is modelled on the operative character of consciousness, in terms of the spontaneous association of ideas There is an intentional mockery of action The novel as a creative process Sterne's playful exploration of what constitutes a novel, and of the relationship between author and reader, had a huge influence on 20th century writers such as Samuel Beckett and Virginia Woolf. Tristram Shandy was the first novel to use the 'stream of consciousness' form - a style later adopted by James Joyce in Ulysses.

Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy In 1765 Laurence Sterne travelled through France and Italy as far south as Naples, and after returning determined to describe his travels from a sentimental point of view. A Sentimental Journey emphasized the subjective discussions of personal taste and sentiments, of manners and morals over classical learning

A Sentimental Journey . The narrator is the Reverend Mr. Yorick, who is slyly represented to guileless readers as Sterne's barely disguised alter ego. The book recounts his various adventures, usually of the amorous type, in a series of self-contained episodes. The book is less eccentric and more elegant in style than Tristram Shandy and was received better by contemporary critics.