Portal:Literature/Biography archive/2007, Week 12

Tobias Smollett (c. 16 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish author, best known for his picaresque novels, such as Roderick Random (1748) and Peregrine Pickle (1753). His first published work was a poem about the Battle of Culloden entitled 'The Tears of Scotland', but it was The Adventures of Roderick Random which made his name. It was modelled on Le Sage's Gil Blas, and was published in 1748. Smollett followed it up by finally getting his tragedy, The Regicide, published, though it was never performed.