The History and Adventures of an Atom by Tobias Smollett (1769)

This satire of politics, royalty, finance and governance appeared anonymously in 1769. It has been attributed to Smollett, but apparently this attribution has been contested at various times. I don't feel skilled enough to comment firmly, and can only hedge my bets: it seems Smollettian in a sense, but also is markedly different to his novels, so who knows? Perhaps a reading of his continuation of David Hume's A Complete History of England, or his own The Present State of All Nations would give a clue as to his non-fictional manner. As it is, this piece is classic eighteenth century satire, replete with scatology, bluster and fantastical names. It purports to be a recent history of Japan, retailed to one Nathaniel Peacock by an atom within his brain. This atom has had a long and colourful history, as do most apparently, while travelling through the systems of all and sundry right across time. We never really find out how this particular one became able to communicate, and why it chose to talk to Peacock about "Japan". Now, the gen is that this story is really England's, and that all the players are disguised versions of the main protagonists of the period of The Seven Years' War. An aside here: my internet 'research' has uncovered the extraordinary fact that this conflict was in fact the first world war, its conflicts reaching across most of the continents then in communication, especially colonially, and involving the majority of European powers in one way or another. So, our First World War was actually the second, our Second the third. Anyway, 'Japan' is caught in asset-draining wars with almost all of its near neighbours; its emperor is caught in the sway of self-interested 'cuboys' trying to rub one another out sneakily so as to consolidate their own power, whilst also himself becoming manically obsessed by parcels of land which are impossible to defend; great orators control the beast of public opinion and vie with administrators in influencing policy. All the while this same public are completely asinine, and led up the garden path into glaring contrarieties of opinion, falling moblike into greater and more fulsome folly. The main players have such a variety of names - ranging from the almost culturally accurate like Mura-clami, to the obviously nonsensical like Nin-kom-poo-po, and journeying through Fika-Kaka, Got-Hama-Baba, Brut-an-Tiffi and Gotto Mio among tens of others along the way. The rumbunctious, noisy, grunting satire is amusing for a reader like myself with next to no knowledge of the era, but I can only imagine that the appeal would multiply accordingly as the inside straight was understood. This also has no particular ending, almost as though it was an unfinished project. It simply stops dead with nothing resolved, which is a little disappointing. The journey is crazy enough to make it worthwhile; whether it's Smollett's work or another wag's, it entertains.