Smelfungus

Smelfungus is a character in the novel A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, written by Laurence Sterne in 1768. The character was created as a satire of Tobias Smollett, himself author of a volume of Travels Through France and Italy, which was published in 1766. Sterne had met Smollett during his own travels in Europe, and strongly objected to Smollett's "spleen, acerbity and quarrelsomeness". He modelled the character of Smelfungus on him for the "snarling abuse he heaps on the institutions and customs of the countries he visited".^[1]

The term "smellfungus" (pl. "smellfungi") thereafter passed into broader use to describe a grumbling traveller, and might even be applied to a faultfinder in general.^[2]

^ Head, Dominic, ed. (2006). The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1124. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ O. M. Brach ed., Tobias Smollett, Scotland's First Author (2007) pp. 76–8

[1] Head, Dominic, ed. (2006). The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1124. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

[2] O. M. Brach ed., Tobias Smollett, Scotland's First Author (2007) pp. 76–8

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