''The History and Adventures of an Atom'' is a novel by

Tobias Smollett Tobias George Smollett (baptised 19 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for picaresque novels such as '' The Adventures of Roderick Random'' (1748), '' The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'' (1751 ...

, first published in 1769. The novel satirises English politics during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

Summary

The novel is an it-narrative, narrated by an

atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, ...

in the body of a London haberdasher, who is the purported editor of the novel. The atom describes events it witnessed in ancient Japan, which are in fact allegories for British politics at the time of the novel's composition.

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British statesman of the Whig group who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him Chatham or William Pitt the Elder to distinguish ...

appears as ''Taycho'', and other politicians, monarchs and nations under a light disguise of made-up names. It includes some comments on the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...

's growing problems with its American colonies. Many "keys" have been published to decode which characters are meant to represent real people.

Publication history

The book was published anonymously in 1769. Smollett's authorship of the book has been disputed, but it is generally included and discussed among his works. The first scholarly edition of the book was published in 1988, edited by Robert Adams Day and O. M. Brack Jr.

Reception

Writing in 1821, Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

wrote, "The chief purpose of the work (besides that of giving the author the opportunity to raise his hand, like that of Ishmael, against every man) is to inspire a national horror of continental connexions."

, "Tobias Smollett" in ''Prose Works: Biographical memoirs of eminent novelists, & other distinguished persons'' (Cadell, 1834), p. 159
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at

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References

External links

Complete online text
(public domain)

1769 novels Novels by Tobias Smollett British political novels Seven Years' War 18th-century British novels Novels set in Japan Works published anonymously Japan in non-Japanese culture {{poli-novel-stub