Abstract
The problematic nature of Smollett’s narrative mode has been a central
focus of critical debate about his novels. This article proposes that the
discontinuity of Smollettian narrative can be usefully understood in the
context of the role played by the medical concept of irritability within
the paradigm of the mind as actively constructing sense experience,
which is put forward by philosophers of the Common Sense School. This
allows the thematics of irritability within Smollett’s novels to be understood
as continuous with a more general epistemological emphasis on
the discontinuities between ultimate principles, in a way which, the
article suggests, is also characteristic of Romanticism.
focus of critical debate about his novels. This article proposes that the
discontinuity of Smollettian narrative can be usefully understood in the
context of the role played by the medical concept of irritability within
the paradigm of the mind as actively constructing sense experience,
which is put forward by philosophers of the Common Sense School. This
allows the thematics of irritability within Smollett’s novels to be understood
as continuous with a more general epistemological emphasis on
the discontinuities between ultimate principles, in a way which, the
article suggests, is also characteristic of Romanticism.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Medicine and Narration in the Eighteenth Century |
| Editors | Sophie Vasset |
| Place of Publication | Oxford |
| Publisher | Voltaire Foundation |
| Pages | 139-159 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780729410656 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Publication series
| Name | SVEC |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Voltaire Foundation |
| Volume | 2013:04 |
| ISSN (Print) | 0435-2866 |