Summary The Adventures of Perigrin the Piklia

T. Smollett
The Adventures of Perigrin the Piklia
“The Adventures of Perigrin Piklyon” – the second of three novels that brought glory to Smollet – reveals the features inherent in the “novel of education,” and the novel is enlightening, and satirical, and pamphlet pamphlet. In part, we can talk about the influence of “sentimentalists.” His hero passes in front of us a truly way from “boy to husband” – as usual in classic novels, meeting on his way many people, discovering and understanding a world in which there are more flaws than virtues, he experiences moments of despondency and despair, or, on the contrary, unrestrained fun, young courage, deceives himself, becomes a victim of other people’s deceptions, falls in love, changes, betrays, but eventually comes to quiet family happiness, finding after a long ordeal a quiet and cozy harbor, deprived of daily cares for bread urgently m, and in addition,

/> It is remarkably said in the “Count Nulin” about the English novel: “classical, old, excellent long, long-long, moralizing and orderly…” As we can see, already in Pushkin’s times the attitude to “classical” novels was ironic enough (we note incidentally, that the first Russian translation of the novel was published in 1788 under the title “The Merry Book or Man’s Pranks”, the title of this fully affected the understanding of both the hypostases of the novel – its irony and its philosophical nature) – and indeed, today Smollet’s novel is very “long, long, “there is a certain redundancy in it – plot twists, plug-in novels, actors, etc. With this redundancy – the unquestionable repeatability of all of the above.
However, Smollet’s novel can not be called a “fine” one: in him, for all the sometimes heavy weight, there is undoubtedly a purely “Falstaffian spirit” and an amazing inner emancipation – both of the author and his heroes – and a mockery of hypocrisy, in any unexpected manifestation…
However, let us turn to the plot. Actually, the narrative begins even before the appearance of his protagonist in the world, begins with the acquaintance of his parents – the papa, Esq. Gemaliye Pikly, who lives “in a county of England, which on one side is washed by the sea and is a hundred miles away from the capital,” and mothers, Miss Sali Appleby. However, in the subsequent narrative the parents of the hero will appear infrequently, the inexplicable hatred that Mrs. Pickle fed to her first-born will make Perigrin an exile from a young age, and he will spend all his childhood and all his youth at the home of his father Commodore Trinhon, a former sailor described by Smollet with incredible coloring: his speech almost entirely consists of purely marine terminology, with the help of which he expounds all his judgments, as a rule, to the sea, which have nothing to do with, In addition, the whole structure of his house, called the “fortress”, retains the signs of marine life, which is “condoned” by his fellow lieutenant Jack Hetchuey and his servant, the former boatswain Tom Pipes. It is these people who will become the most loyal and loyal friends of our hero for life. However, soon Perigreen and Commodore Trinion will breed, because the sister of the Pikly senior, Miss Grizzle, will become the commodore’s wife, and little Perry will thus be his nephew.
Pushkin’s formula “the child was cut, but nice” is quite applicable to a small (and not very small too) Perigrin. Children’s leprosy is replaced by youth, before we go through “school years”, we get acquainted with another very colorful style – teacher and mentor Perigrin Dzholterom. And the indispensable participants in his amusements and prose are Lieutenant Hetchuei and Tom Pipes, who do not worship the soul in their young “master.” Then – the first love – a meeting with Emilia Gantle. Addressed her poems Perigrin – frankly parodic (clearly audible author’s intonation!), Coupled with the full seriousness of the young lover, this combination gives a stunning effect of farce. Emilia will be the same heroine, the relationship with which will last from Perigrin until the very end of the novel, going through all the “required” stages: attempt to take her away and seduce, insult, offer and rejection, mutual torment and in the end a successful union in the “legal marriage” of the matured Perigrin, who learned at least a little to distinguish between true and false, and generously forgiven and all forgotten Emilia. However, the love story is, of course, burdened with all sorts of offshoots and complications: for example, Emilia has a brother, Godfrey, and their late father, Ned Gantlit, turns out to be an old friend of Trianon, his companion in past battles on the battlefield. The generous Trinion buys an officer’s patent for Godfrey, telling the young man that his father once lent him an amount of money, which Trion now returns to him in this way; sharpness, straightforwardness of the old soldier quite successfully combined with him with tact and scrupulousness.
Meanwhile, the parents of Perigrin also have other children: a son bearing the same name as his father, Hem, and daughter Julia. The brother turns out to be a disgusting child, cruel, vindictive, insidious – and, as a result, a favorite of his mother, like her, who hates Perigrin fiercely (never before his parents crossed the threshold of their house), but Julia, on the contrary, by chance acquainted with her older brother, sincerely attached to him, and Peri pays her the same faithful love. It is he who saves her from the parents’ house when the sister, standing on his side in confrontation with his mother and younger brother, is also in his home either hostage or prisoner. Perigrin transports it to the house of Trinion and later successfully contributes to her happy marriage.
For the novel Smollet characterized by the presence in it of “references” to the real characters and events of that era. Such are many “plug-in novels”, as, for example, the story of the “noble lady” under the title “Memoirs” and owned, as the commentators believe, the noble patron of Smalllet, Lady Wen. The participation of Smollet himself in the text of “Memoirs” is obviously limited only to stylistic editing – so much their tone, their colorlessness and edification differ from the actual Smollet story. The first edition of the novel contained attacks against Fielding, as well as against the famous actor David Garrick, in the second edition, which appeared in 1758, Smollet took these attacks. However, the “reference” that is present in the canonical text of the novel is noteworthy, to the previous work of Smollet himself – his first famous novel “The Adventures of Rodrik Random”: in one of the people he met, Perigreen recognizes “a person that is so respectfully mentioned in Roderick Random’s Adventures.” This element of mystification gives the Smollet story a surprisingly modern coloration, diversity in some monotony of the plot canvas. And in addition, thereby the writer emphasizes the “chronicle” of the narrative, combining their novels in a kind of “cycle” – a kind of a single fusion of biographies, separate sketches, the realities of the era. This element of mystification gives Smollett’s narrative an unexpectedly modern coloring, introducing diversity into some monotony of the plotline. And besides, the writer emphasizes the “chronicle” of the narrative, uniting his novels in a kind of “cycle” – a kind of unified fusion of biographies, individual sketches, the realities of the era. This element of mystification gives Smollett’s narrative an unexpectedly modern coloring, introducing diversity into some monotony of the plotline. And besides, the writer emphasizes the “chronicle” of the narrative, uniting his novels in a kind of “cycle” – a kind of unified fusion of biographies, individual sketches, the realities of the era.
Smollet’s story about Perigrin’s trip to Paris, Antwerp, other cities and countries is equally colorful and colorful, his description is by no means a “sentimental” journey of his hero. The description of the “light”, not taking, incidentally, Perigrin in their “ranks”, because, for all the cheekiness of the young man, there was still in him a stranger, “a man from the side”; talking about the conclusion of Perigrin in the Bastille, Smollet with pleasure describes the impudence and fearlessness of his not an ideal hero. And again – the colorful personalities that meet Perigrin on his way, in particular his two compatriots, the painter Pelit and a certain learned doctor, his close friend, whose quirks become for Perigrin the reason for innumerable tricks and ridicule is not always inoffensive. In his “jokes” Perigrin displays both ingenuity, and mocking temper, and even a certain cruelty, the ability to take advantage of human weaknesses (which he himself, by the way, is not deprived). In Smollett’s hero, there is undoubtedly something from the rogue, the favorite character of the picaresque novels: the rogue, the scoundrel, the mocker, the good fellow, to himself on his mind, far from moralizing, and each time ready to break any “moral foundations”. Such are the numerous love adventures of Perigrin, in which he marvelously leads the nose of the deceived husbands, with pleasure instructing them with horns (for which, however, they quite reasonably force him to pay afterwards, full of various kinds of troubles, very significant). In Smollett’s hero, there is undoubtedly something from the rogue, the favorite character of the picaresque novels: the rogue, the scoundrel, the mocker, the good fellow, to himself on his mind, far from moralizing, and each time ready to break any “moral foundations”. Such are the numerous love adventures of Perigrin, in which he marvelously leads the nose of the deceived husbands, with pleasure instructing them with horns (for which, however, they quite reasonably force him to pay afterwards, full of various kinds of troubles, very significant). In Smollett’s hero, there is undoubtedly something from the rogue, the favorite character of the picaresque novels: the rogue, the scoundrel, the mocker, the good fellow, to himself on his mind, far from moralizing, and each time ready to break any “moral foundations”. Such are the numerous love adventures of Perigrin, in which he marvelously leads the nose of the deceived husbands, with pleasure instructing them with horns (for which, however, they quite reasonably force him to pay afterwards, full of various kinds of troubles, very significant).
But for all that Smollet puts into the mouth of his hero many thoughts and observations, with whom he himself solidarizes, attributing his own views and beliefs. Whether it is a question of the theater, in the arguments about which Pikl unexpectedly shows common sense and unquestionable professionalism, or about the hypocrisy of priests, the alien nature of Perigrin, taking into account all his weaknesses and shortcomings peculiar to man in general, our hero expresses many sensible, sincere, direct and fervent remarks, although it is not alien to himself at times pretense. It is equally alien to any manifestation of outright speech, any form of limitation – whether it comes to religion, scientific discoveries, literary or theatrical affairs. And then the author’s mockery is inseparable from the one that his hero exposes his opponents.
Having completed his journey with another love affair, this time taking place in The Hague, Perigreen returns to England. It is at the moment when his hero steps on his native land that the author considers it necessary to give him, almost for the first time, a “characterization” quite unpleasant: “Unfortunately, the work I have undertaken imposes on me the duty to indicate… the corruption of feelings our arrogant young man who was now in the prime of his youth, was intoxicated with the consciousness of his virtues, inspired by fantastic hopes and was proud of his condition… “He traces his hero through many more life experiences, which in part are knocked off his” pollen “by his self Infallibility, infallibility, commitment to what we now call “permissiveness”. Smollet calls it “
In the meantime, Smollet with pleasure describes the countless love victories of his hero, taking place “on the waters” in Bath – without the slightest moralizing, mockingly, as if becoming himself at this moment young and carefree. Among the new acquaintances of Piklya are again the most diverse, unusually colorful personalities; one of them is an old misanthrope, a cynic and a philosopher (all these are definitions of Smollet himself) Crabtree Caduolder, who until the end of the novel will remain a friend of Pikly: faithful and unfaithful at the same time, but still in difficult times invariably coming to his aid. Always grumbling, always all dissatisfied (misanthrope, in a word), but something certainly nice. Than? Obviously, the fact that it has an individuality – quality, is extremely expensive for the writer in people, very much in them defining in them.
The death of his benefactor, the old Commodore Trinion, Piquel perceived as a heavy loss, and at the same time his inheritance “did not at all contribute to the humility of the spirit, but inspired him with new thoughts of grandeur and grandeur and raised his hopes to the highest peaks.” Vanity – a vice that is undoubtedly inherent in the young hero of Smalllet – reaches its apogee at this moment, the desire to shine and rotate in the light, to reduce acquaintances with noble persons (real, and even more imaginary) – in short, the boy’s head was “dizzy”. And no wonder. At this moment he imagines that everyone should fall at his feet, that everything is accessible and subject to him. alas…
It was at these moments that he inflicted that terrible insult to Emilia, of which it was mentioned above: only because she was poor and he was rich.
The piling up of the “novels” of the hero, all sorts of intrigues and intrigues, a series of beloved, their husbands, etc., at some point becomes almost unbearable, clearly parodic, but perhaps all this is necessary for the author to gradually instruct his hero “to the true path”? For all his attempts to enter a secular society, to become a full member of it, end not just in failure – he suffers a monstrous fiasco. Becomes a victim of deceptions, intrigues, loses all his fortune as a result and is on the verge of poverty, getting into debt to the famous Fleet prison, whose morals and “device” are also remarkably described in the novel. In prison there is a “community”, its foundations, its “circle”, its rules and regulations. However, there is no place for them in Piklus, in the end, he turns into an unsociable misanthrope, eschewing people, who decided that his life was already over. And at this moment and comes to him luck, a little “invented”, a little “fabricated” by the author, but still enjoyable for the reader. Appears Godfrey Gantlit, only now learned that his true benefactor, hidden by the spring of his service success was precisely Perigrin Pikl. Their meeting in the prison cell is described with touching sentimentality and heartache. Godfrey retrieves a friend from prison, and then an unexpected inheritance (Father Piklya dies without leaving a will, as a result of which he, as an eldest son, enters the inheritance rights). And finally, the final chord is a long-awaited wedding with Emilia. The reader waited for a “happy ending”,