The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
First edition title page
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| Author | Tobias Smollett |
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| Country | Great Britain |
| Language | English |
| Genre | novel |
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Publication date
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1751 1758 (revised reissue) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 372 |
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle is a picaresque novel by the Scottish author Tobias Smollett (1721–1771), first published in 1751 and revised and published again in 1758. It tells the story of an egotistical man who experiences luck and misfortunes in the height of 18th-century European society.
The novel begins with the character of Peregrine as a young country gentleman rejected by his cruel mother, ignored by his indifferent father, and hated by his degenerate brother. After their alienation, he turns to Commodore Hawser Trunnion, who raises him. Peregrine's detailed life experience provides a scope for Smollett's satire on human cruelty, stupidity, and greed: from his upbringing, education at Oxford, journey to France, jailing at the Fleet, unexpected succession to his father's fortune, and final repentance and marriage to his beloved Emilia. The novel is written as a series of adventures, with every chapter depicting a new experience. There is also a lengthy independent story within the novel called "The Memoirs of a Lady of Quality", written by Frances Vane, Viscountess Vane.
Peregrine Pickle features several amusing characters, most notably Commodore Hawser Trunnion, an old seaman and misogynist who lives in a house with his former shipmates. Trunnion's lifestyle may have inspired Charles Dickens to create the character of Wemmick in Great Expectations. Another interesting character is Peregrine's friend Cadwallader Crabtree, an old misanthrope who amuses himself by playing ingenious jokes on naive people.
Smollett also caricatured many of his enemies in the novel, most notably Henry Fielding and the actor David Garrick. Fitzroy Henry Lee was supposedly the model for Hawser Trunnion.
George Orwell, writing in the Tribune in 1944, said regarding the novels Roderick Random and Peregrine Pickle:
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