The History and Adventures of an Atom
The History and Adventures of an Atom
TOBIAS SMOLLETT
Introduction and Notes by ROBERT ADAMS DAY
The Text Edited by O M BRACK
Edited by ROBERT ADAMS DAY
Series: The Works of Tobias Smollett
Copyright Date: 1989
Published by: University of Georgia Press
Pages: 448
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46nc1v
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The History and Adventures of an Atom
Book Description:

InThe History and Adventures of an Atom, a London haberdasher relates extraordinary tales of ancient Japan as dictated to him by an omniscient atom that has lived within the bodies of great figures of state. Intended "for the instruction of British ministers," the work is a savage allegory of England during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), draping kings and politicians, domestic and foreign affairs in an intricately detailed, endlessly allusive veil of satire.

Lacing his commentary with vitriol, Tobias Smollett gives fantastic expression in the Atom to many of the concerns voiced in his historical and political writings. He creates from the details of Japanese history an ingenious catalog of English places and personalities--from the up-start ruler "Taycho," whose graspings for power resemble William Pitt's, to a god of war called "Fatzman" who suggests the grotesquely obese Duke of Cumberland. Smollett also draws on the imagery of the period's scurrilous political cartoons and injects into his satire a Rabelaisian humor that makes this work perhaps the most scatological in English literature.

Edited and introduced by Robert Adams Day, this edition of the Atom is the first to appear since 1926 and the first ever to provide a carefully prepared text, a full apparatus of historical annotations, and an accurate key to personages and places. Day establishes the authorship and the long-disputed work, placing it within the context of Smollett's writings and opinions, his times and literary world.

eISBN: 978-0-8203-4645-8
Subjects: Language & Literature
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-viii)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. ix-x)
  3. List of Illustrations
    List of Illustrations (pp. xi-xiv)
  4. PREFACE
    PREFACE (pp. xv-xviii)
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (pp. xix-xx)
  6. List of Abbreviations
    List of Abbreviations (pp. xxi-xxiv)
  7. INTRODUCTION
    INTRODUCTION (pp. xxv-lxxvi)

    It is safe to say that no lengthy work by a major British author (if we except their juvenilia) is so little known, or has been so little studied, as Tobias Smollett’sHistory and Adventures of an Atom(1769). Only a handful of living persons have read it through; and the scholarship devoted to it, aside from brief mention in books or essays and a few short notes in learned journals, consists of three articles, a single chapter or section in each of three books, a recent American dissertation, and a chapter of another.¹ It may not be inappropriate, then,...

  8. CHRONOLOGY
    CHRONOLOGY (pp. lxxvii-lxxxvi)
  9. The History and Adventures of an Atom
    • VOLUME ONE
      VOLUME ONE (pp. 1-74)

      I Nathaniel Peacock, of the parish of St. Giles,¹⁸ haberdasher¹⁹ and author, solemnly declare, That on the third of last August, sitting alone in my study, up three pair of stairs,²° between the hours of eleven and twelve at night, meditating upon the uncertainty of sublunary enjoyment,²¹ I heard a shrill, small voice,²² seemingly proceeding from a chink or crevice in my own pericranium,²³ call distinctly three times, "Nathaniel Peacock, Nathaniel Peacock, Nathaniel Peacock.” Astonished, yea, even affrighted, at this citation,²⁴ I replied in a faultering tone, “In the name of the Lord, what art thou? Thus adjured,²⁵ the voice...

    • VOLUME TWO
      VOLUME TWO (pp. 75-132)

      The time was now come when Fortune, which had hitherto smiled upon the Chinese arms, resolved to turn tail¹ to that vain-glorious nation; and precisely at the same instant Taycho undertook to display his whole capacity in the management of the war. But before he assumed this province,² it was necessary that he should establish a despotism in the council of Twenty-eight, some members of which had still the presumption to offer their advice towards the administration of affairs. This council being assembled by the Dairo’s order, to deliberate upon the objects of the next campaign, the president³ began by...

  10. NOTES TO THE TEXT
    NOTES TO THE TEXT (pp. 133-248)
  11. KEY
    KEY (pp. 249-268)
  12. PRINTS
    PRINTS (pp. 269-324)
  13. TEXTUAL COMMENTARY
    TEXTUAL COMMENTARY (pp. 325-330)

    In theLondon Chronicle, London Evening Post,andWhitehall Evening Postfor 6–8 December and 8–10 December 1768,The History and Adventures of an Atomwas announced as to be published “in a few days,” printed for J. Almon opposite Burlington House in Piccadilly. In February 1769 theAtomwas again announced as to be published “in a few days,” but this time for G. Kearsly, No. 1, Ludgate Street. This announcement appeared inLloyd’s Evening Post,8 February;London Chronicle,9 February;St. James’s Chronicle,9 and 11 February; andWhitehall Evening Post,9 and 11 February....

  14. LIST OF EMENDATIONS
    LIST OF EMENDATIONS (pp. 331-332)
  15. TEXTUAL NOTES
    TEXTUAL NOTES (pp. 333-334)
  16. WORD-DIVISION
    WORD-DIVISION (pp. 335-340)
  17. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS
    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS (pp. 341-342)
  18. INDEX
    INDEX (pp. 343-360)
  19. Back Matter
    Back Matter (pp. 361-361)
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