Rêver, interpréter, lire dans Roderick Random

This essay focuses on the incipit of Smollett’s first novel, Roderick Random (1748), which opens with an example of oneiromancy only a few pages after a preface which demolishes the very concept of divination or « necromancy ». By comparing the dream interpreted here with other passages of the novel before contrasting it with the way dreams and divination are dealt with in Peregrine Pickle (1751), I try to highlight the specificity of a narrative which does not appear to be parodic or satirical. I argue that Smollett here relies on tragic and biblical codes to offer a real conception of reading and of fictional writing.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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