Tobias Smollett’s The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) is a series of episodes around the adventures of a combative hero. Roderick is forced (= è obbligato) to sail (= salpare) to far seas, but is able to build his fortune thanks to his medical qualifications and his generous disposition. Finally he also meets a father he considered lost. In the Preface to the book Smollett explains that Roderick Random is influenced by Gil Blas by Le Sage, and, like all Picaresque novels, it does not follow a real plot.
It describes the adventurous life by sea and land and introduces a lot of human types showing a great ability as a close (= ravvicinato) observer of low life, and a tendency to caricature his subjects.
He illustrates – with great realism – navy (= marina) characters and lively scene of life on the sea thanks to his own experience as a mate surgeon (= aiuto chirurgo) on ships and also depicts the fashionable (= mondana) life of London and Bath giving a detailed (= dettagliato) and ironical account (= racconto) on the colonial wars and social pastimes (=passatempi) overseas.