Book description
When Yorick, the roving narrator of Sterne's innovative final novel,
sets off for France on a whim, he produces no ordinary travelogue.
Jolting along in his coach from Calais, through Paris, and on towards
the Italian border, the amiable parson is blithely unconcerned by famous
views or monuments, but he engages us with tales of his encounters with
all manner of people, from counts and noblewomen to beggars and
chambermaids. And as drama piles upon drama, anecdote, flirtation and
digression, Yorick's destination takes second place to an exhilarating
voyage of emotional and erotic exploration. Interweaving sharp wit with
warm humour, irony with sentiment, A Sentimental Journey paints a
captivating picture of an Englishman's adventures abroad. Irish-born
Laurence Sterne graduated from Cambridge in 1737 and took holy orders,
becoming a prebend in York Cathedral. His masterpiece, 'The Life and
Opinions of Tristram Shandy' made him a celebrity but ill-health
necessitated recuperative travel and A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY grew out of a
seven-month trip through France and Italy. He died the year it was
published, 1768. Paul Goring teaches English at Trondheim University in
Norway and has completed a doctorate on Sterne's novels.
