Reading 1001 discussion

Rating: 3 Stars
Read: January 2017

This is an epistolary novel about Matthew Bramble and he and his family's tour through Great Britain during the late 1700s. The letters that make up the story are told through the perspectives of several of the book's characters. The book contains the typical bawdy humor of other books of that time period. Despite the title, Humphry Clinker doesn't show up until well into the book.

If I could do half stars I’d probably put at a 3.5, but I felt charitable and decided on 4 because I appreciate the narrative devices and did enjoy it. I found it to be a successful application of the epistolary format, especially since it is used to show the subjectivity of experience, with many accounts of the same events being told with great variation in content and tone.

I also did find it funny that Humphry is not one of the POV characters and only shows up about a third of the way in (much like the book Rob Roy and the titular character). I feel like it worked in a way because all of the Bramble’s disparate motives and focuses in the end start to converge around Humphry’s story, which he never hear from his own account. In a way, this and the contrast between Winifred the servant’s letters and the Bramble’s makes for an interesting “how the affluent think they can speak for and represent the working class” angle.

I found it to be an amusing read that showed some good class/society satire. I do tend to find, however, that 18h century literature uses a really crude and juvenile sense of humour that seems kind of low and outdated now. Although, it could easily fit in with a lot of modern American cartoons and movies I suppose as well.

Classic 18th century satire in the form of an epistolary novel. I found this much more enjoyable than I was expecting, as I often find satire of this period quite heavy handed and hard to follow.

I especially enjoyed - seeing the same events from the different perspectives of the letter writers, the way that Matthew Bramble complains about every aspect of modern life wherever he goes (but is rather likeable all the same), the satire on city life and its vanities, and the rather touching love affairs that all work out in the end.

Like Amanda, I found the vulgar and bawdy humour rather left me cold, but at least there was a cheerful and innocuous feel to it rather than being an attempt to shock the reader as in some more modern works - and some of Miss Tabitha’s misspellings and misunderstandings were genuinely funny. I would have liked more letters from her and Win, and shorter ones from Matthew and Jery, but overall this rated 4* for me.