Dr Richard Jones

Professional biography

In his autobiography, David Hume (1711–76) speaks of ‘a passion for literature, which has been the ruling passion of my life’. But what did Hume mean by ‘literature’? Certainly, he did not mean an academic discipline or a section of a bookshop (as this might be taken to mean today). The reason I like Hume’s words is that they point us towards a literature – a passion for literature – that comes before the discipline. My research has therefore focused on the literature of the eighteenth century. Hume might have described it as ‘general learning’; it draws attention to a form of knowledge that appears as and through the work of writing.

For me, the Scottish writer Tobias Smollett (1721–71) – and friend of Hume – provides a way to explore this approach to literature. Smollett’s reputation has never been entirely secure: he is (not quite) a novelist, (not quite) a historian, (not quite) a critic or physician or translator, (not quite) a playwright or poet; he is also (not quite) a hack. Smollett probably wrote more words than any of his contemporaries; even so, he is perhaps not quite the writer we wish him to have been. In my research, I have turned to Smollett’s periodical work – for example, on the Critical Review (from 1756) and the Complete History of England (1757–8) and Continuation (1760–65) – to try to understand the task that he had set himself. This develops previous research into Smollett as a writer of the Scottish Enlightenment. My book, Tobias Smollett in the Enlightenment: Travels through France, Italy and Scotland (2011), was published by Bucknell University Press as part of the series Transits: Literature, Thought & Culture 1650–1850. In this book, I recover Smollett’s identity as a Scottish historian and critic by reading one of his works, Travels through France and Italy (1766), in various literary contexts (notably, Scottish writings on medicine, art, theatre and history).

In May 2021, I convened a two-day conference to mark the three-hundredth anniversary of Smollett’s birth, with the Institute of English Studies, University of London, and the History of Books and Reading (HOBAR) research collaboration at the OU. Contributions to the conference were subsequently developed into a collection of essays, Tobias Smollett after 300 years: life, writing, reputation (Clemson University Press, 2023). Some of my wider interests in philosophy and literature are reflected in my occasional blog, antiphysis.

Recent publications

Richard J. Jones (ed.), Tobias Smollett after 300 years: life, writing, reputation (Clemson University Press in association with Liverpool University Press, 2023); https://libraries.clemson.edu/press/books/tobias-smollett-after-300-years

'The pamphlet on the table': The life and adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves', in Paul Poplawski (ed.), Studying English Literature in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2022); doi: 10.1017/9781108782999

'The eighteenth-century review journal as allegory: Smollett’s Critical Review and the work of criticism', The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, vol. 60, no. 1 (2019), pp. 45–63; doi: 10.1353/ecy.2019.0004

'Continued continuations of complete histories: Tobias Smollett and the work of history', Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 41, no. 3 (2018), pp. 391–406; doi: 10.1111/1754-0208.12525

'Tobias Smollett and the work of writing’, Literature Compass, vol. 15, no. 8 (2018); doi: 10.1111/lic3.12485 

Conferences and papers 

'"This, all put together, forms Launcelot Greaves": Tobias Smollett, literature and the novel' (keynote lecture at 'Novel Histories: New Approaches to Eighteenth-Century Fiction' conference, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 2022)

‘Tobias Smollett at 300: the work of writing’ (organiser of a two-day international conference with the Institute of English Studies, University of London, and the OU History of Books and Reading research collaboration, May 2021)

'Tobias Smollett: Empty Author' (ISECS International Congress on the Enlightenment, Edinburgh, 2019)

'Tobias Smollett writes the history of England’ (ASECS Annual Conference, Minneapolis, 2017)

‘Tobias Smollett and David Hume’ (OU/IES Book History Research Group Seminar Series, London, 2016)

From 2017 to 2019, I chaired the production of A111 Discovering the arts and humanities (which presented for the first time in October 2019). This module provides a multidisciplinary introduction to the study of the arts and humanities; it is compulsory for all qualification pathways in the arts and humanities undergraduate programme. What appeals to me about the module is the opportunity it offers to ask big questions: what do we really mean by the arts and humanities today? What do they help us to know? I continued to chair the module in the first years of its presentation, from 2019 to 2022.

Alongside my interdisciplinary interests, I have contributed to the teaching of English Literature on a number of undergraduate modules. Most recently, I have been part of the team developing a new second-level module, A240 Literature matters; this included writing a unit on Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads. I have previously contributed units on Molière’s Tartuffe and Rousseau’s Confessions to the third-level module, A334 English literature from Shakespeare to Austen. I am currently a representative for the School of Arts and Humanities on the Faculty’s Academic Committee for Learning, Teaching and Assessment; I am also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.