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The Columbia History of the British NovelNo middle, or gray, was sensed. Early readers were asking whether the novel possessed an appropriate mimesis or representation and wondered whether sentimental romance was being cultivated for ends they could not Fathom. Fathom did not seem at all to fit the paradigm of a "satiric Smollettian novel." Yet, however odd the book may have seemed to general readers then, Fathom abounds with new features of great interest to historians of the English novel. The dedication is written by Smollett to himself ("To Dr. S--"), suggesting that an author assumes an autobiographical -142- role whether or not he wishes to. Then, in the dictum about the novel as "a large diffused picture, comprehending the characters of life"-a broad canvas rather than a narrow section-a new completeness axiom is introduced to the English novel that reaches a zenith in Trollope, Thackeray, and Dickens. The range in Fathom is more limited than this aesthetic suggests, perhaps as a result of Smollett's fascination with roguery and crime, and in view of his intention to demonstrate, through plot and character analysis, that "fear is the most interesting of the passions." In chapter 21, Smollett introduces a scene of still-warm corpses and murderers in an abandoned farmhouse that is so chilling, the reader wonders what his intention is ...» |
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