The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom
Encyclopedia
The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom is a novel
by Tobias Smollett
first published in 1753. It was Smollett's third novel and met with less success than his two previous more picaresque tales. The central character is a villainous dandy who cheats, swindles and philanders his way across Europe and England with little concern for the law or the welfare of others. The son of an equally disreputable mother, Smollett himself comments that "Fathom justifies the proverb, 'What's bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh". Sir Walter Scott commented that the novel paints a "complete picture of human depravity" http://books.google.com/books?id=iugGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA26&lpg=RA2-PA26&dq=the+adventures+of+ferdinand+count+fathom&source=web&ots=Zqx7O3s4u2&sig=lgGFaNLqpAd78qCzPFhHNjIioOs
The main character reappears as a minor character in Smollet's later novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Tobias Smollett
Tobias Smollett
Tobias George Smollett was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , which influenced later novelists such as Charles Dickens.-Life:Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton,...
first published in 1753. It was Smollett's third novel and met with less success than his two previous more picaresque tales. The central character is a villainous dandy who cheats, swindles and philanders his way across Europe and England with little concern for the law or the welfare of others. The son of an equally disreputable mother, Smollett himself comments that "Fathom justifies the proverb, 'What's bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh". Sir Walter Scott commented that the novel paints a "complete picture of human depravity" http://books.google.com/books?id=iugGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA26&lpg=RA2-PA26&dq=the+adventures+of+ferdinand+count+fathom&source=web&ots=Zqx7O3s4u2&sig=lgGFaNLqpAd78qCzPFhHNjIioOs
The main character reappears as a minor character in Smollet's later novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker.