'Love is nothing without feeling. And feeling is still less without
love.'
Celebrated in its own day as the progenitor of 'a school of sentimental
writers', A Sentimental Journey (1768) has outlasted its many
imitators because of the humour and mischievous eroticism that inform Mr
Yorick's travels. Setting out to journey to France and Italy he gets
little further than Lyons but finds much to appreciate, in contrast to
contemporary travel writers whom Sterne satirizes in the figures of
Smelfungus and Mundungus. A master of ambiguity and double entendre,
Sterne is nevertheless as concerned as his peers with exploring the
nature of virtue; unlike other writers of sentimental fiction Sterne
insists on the inseparability of desire and feeling.
This new edition includes a selection from The Sermons of Mr Yorick,
which shed light on the concerns of the Journey, The Journal to
Eliza, which records Sterne's feelings as he languishes for the company
of Eliza Draper, and A Political Romance, the satire on a local
ecclesiastical squabble that was the catalyst for Sterne's literary
career.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has
made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the
globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to
scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other
valuable features, including expert introductions by leading
authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date
bibliographies for further study, and much more.
