ABSTRACT
Like Joseph Andrews, Roderick Random was published in two volumes. This format obviously assisted Smollett in working out his narrative symmetries, as it assists the reader in grasping them. The novel’s fundamental circularity is announced in chapter 1 with the sage’s interpretation of Roderick’s mother’s dream as meaning that he ‘would be a great traveller, that he would undergo many dangers and difficulties, and at last return to his native land, where he would flourish with great reputation and happiness’. The question of structural schemes in Peregrine Pickle is complicated by the considerable revisions made for the second edition. In Peregrine Pickle Smollett’s concern for the thematic possibilities of the centre is much more evident than in his first novel. Ferdinand Count Fathom manifests a stark simplicity of structure which is a fitting complement to the novel’s moral schematism as announced in the Dedication.
