The Sot-Weed Factor is a 1960 novel by John Barth that satirizes picaresque novels such as Tristram Shandy and Tom Jones. (Sot-weed is an old term for tobacco. A factor is a middleman who buys something to resell it.)
Contents |
Story
The novel is set in early eighteenth century on the eastern shore of the colony of Maryland. It tells the story of an English poet named Ebenezer Cooke who is given the title "Poet Laureate of Maryland" by Charles Calvert. He undergoes many adventures on his journey to Maryland and while in Maryland, all the while striving to preserve his innocence (i.e. his virginity). The book takes its title from the grand poem that Cooke composes throughout the story, which was originally intended to sing the praises of Maryland, but ends up being a biting satire based on his disillusioning experiences. The novel plays with the narrative of John Smith and Pocahantas, presenting Smith as a boastful and bawdy opportunist, whose narrative of his explorations in Virginia is portrayed as highly fictional and self-serving. Barth's book and the characters within are based on a 1707 book of the same name, by the real Ebenezer Cooke. Barth uses the few known details of the real Cooke's life in his novel.
An April 1708 advertisement from the front-matter of Old Bailey Proceedings reads: THE Sot-weed Factor: Or, a Voyage to Maryland, a Satyr. In which is describ'd, the Laws, Governments, Courts and Constitutions of the Country; and also the Buildings, Feasts, Frolicks, Entertainments and Drunken Humours of the Inhabitants of that Part of America. In Burle que Verse. By Eben. Cook, Gent.
Characters
- Ebenezer Cooke
England:
- Andrew Cooke (his father)
- Anna Cooke (his twin sister)
- Henry Burlingame (the Cooke children's beloved tutor)
- Bertrand Burton (his knavish manservant)
- Ben Oliver (poet and tavern denizen)
- Dick Merriwether (same)
- Tom Trent (same)
- John McEvoy
- Joan Toast
