PEREGRINE PICKLE: THE COMPLETE SATIRIST

Whatever appeal Peregrine Pickle has is not the emotional appeal of a complex personality whose moral development we follow; it is the appeal of a versatile satirist-hero through whom Smollett is able to achieve a sometimes repetitious but amazingly broad satire which is simultaneously a unique stud...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inStudies in the novel Vol. 3; no. 3; pp. 258 - 274
Main Author EVANS, DAVID L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Denton, Tex North Texas State University 01.10.1971
Subjects
Charity
Gauntlets
Human nature
Humanity
Narrators
Novels
Pickles
Revenge
Satire
Vanity
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Summary:Whatever appeal Peregrine Pickle has is not the emotional appeal of a complex personality whose moral development we follow; it is the appeal of a versatile satirist-hero through whom Smollett is able to achieve a sometimes repetitious but amazingly broad satire which is simultaneously a unique study of satire itself. Taken seriously as Bildungsroman or as vying in theme and characterization with, say, Tom Jones, Peregrine Pickle can only be judged as very weak indeed. However, approached as a lively and distinctive experiment, it turns out to be fascinating and almost successful, for all its shortcomings. The techniques of satire and the human implications of the satiric view of mankind are both subject matter and theme in this unusual novel. Smollett's central problem in the book is the problem of somehow interrelating, in his central character, the dual roles of "satirist in the work" and conventional hero in a melodrama of moral education. Though perhaps not entirely successful in solving this problem, Smollett is clearly deliberate about his experimentation and frequently subtle in his effort to blend the conventions of the novel of his time with the conventions of satire. (DLE)
ISSN:0039-3827
1934-1512