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Podróż sentymentalna
Yorick, Sterne's Englishman abroad, is blithely unconcerned by famous views or monuments. Bumping along in his coach, the amiable parson buttonholes us with tales of his encounters with all manner of men & women--particularly the attractive ones. As drama piles upon drama, anecdote, flirtation & digression, his destination takes second place to an exhilarating voyage of emotional discovery. Interweaving sharp wit with gaiety, irony with sentiment, Sterne creates a deliberately artless novel which calls to mind the modernism of Virginia Woolf, James Joyce & Samuel Beckett. In A Sentimental Journey, Woolf declared, 'we are as close to life as we can be'.
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1768
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About the author
Laurence Sterne
1,531 books400 followersLaurence Sterne was an Irish-born English novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics. Sterne died in London after years of fighting consumption (tuberculosis).
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence...
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 458 reviews
October 26, 2023
A book without a plot this 18th century story is a travel novel written by Laurence Sterne as he crosses France and never actually gets to Italy which makes the title a misnomer. Not to worry friends it was very popular in 1768 and amusing, travel books were quite in vogue then since in that era half the planet was unexplored and people are curious, still are. Arriving in Calais from England, a celebrity in his day Tristram Shandy, is nonsensical but brilliant I understand, have the volume and will read soon. On the French side of the English channel the inhabitants are always with their hands out. Writers back then are not wealthy a limited amount of income most need a second job, he is a clergyman in the Anglican Church yet a volatile person. Thus Mr.Sterne a noted wit, was a generous man unlike his fellow countrymen which kept him carefully counting British pounds. A friend warned him more money was needed. Meeting a monk from St. Francis asking for alms proven later the monk was fictitious as the order bars this. However the innkeeper Monsieur Pierre Dessein was real and in fact became wealthy by his being named in the publication. Meeting aristocrats the Count de Bissy disguised here as are others, a lover of English literature, he is flattered the nobleman has a copy of Tristram Shandy on his desk before he knew who the visitor was...other royals Mr.Sterne sees yet talking to beautiful women was more thrilling. Speaking about life stimulated the writer especially the ladies. A valet La Fleur sometimes helps or hinders his master the Englishman , being employed in Calais. With his newfound prosperity, the servant buys flashy clothes, looking and acting like a fop, a dandy, enjoying his rise in the nation of class consciousness. Coming to the city of lights in Paris, the foreigner becomes involved with high society's glitter , the influential people, a strange situation for the less than affluent man who still pinches his pennies. The story of illustrious France before the revolution the poor are quite prominent in the narrative while the rich thrive and the weak, and destitute despair. Only a spark was needed for the conflagration to begin the carnage and sadly it commenced in twenty years. The flames killed thousands and eventually millions of humans, the tumult took decades to end. A product of its age for those interested in history a good place to start the process.
December 14, 2024
It is an absolute masterpiece of fantasy, humor, inventiveness, freedom of tone, and narration. Sterne follows his mood as wandering as his journey, and his digressions are indescribable. A treat, a feast of the mind, to be read preferably in English accompanied by a good translation, why not the 18th century one by M. Frénais, Bonnet, etc., who are not afraid of the "beautiful infidels," i.e., "improved" translations that are more than faithful!! The comparison of the two texts is hilarious.
February 7, 2017
This is pure character-driven, plotless fun. It's a travel tale in which the first-person narrator drifts from incident to incident and it is always the idiosyncratic power of his voice that carries us along. The text is not easy, loaded with archaisms and French expressions as it is. Light readers steer clear. Endnotes are copious--and essential--about two or three to a page. If you loved The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, as I did, this should also satisfy. The prose here seems lighter than in that previous novel, probably because there are far fewer textual games played. (These can't of course legitimately be called post-modern, as some blurbers do here.) The only problem is that it's too short. Sterne died before he could complete his plan. Highly recommended.
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August 26, 2019"I had left London with so much precipitation, that it never entered my mind that we were at war with France; and had reached Dover, and looked through my glass at the hills beyond Boulogne, before the idea presented itself; and with this in its train, that there was no getting there without a passport. Go but to the end of the street, I have a mortal aversion for returning back no wiser than I set out; and as this was one of the greatest efforts I had ever made for knowledge, I could less bear the thoughts of it..."
getting there without a passport, goodness, now that's a nice idea.
getting there without a passport, goodness, now that's a nice idea.
November 6, 2019
“There are worse occupations in this world than feeling a woman’s pulse.”
- Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey
Published literally RIGHT before poor Sterne died, this short (and well-received) book is basically a fake travelogue through France and Italy. Yorick plays the part of Sterne's alter-ego. The book is less experimental than The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, but still a joy. It seems to exude both a bit of Richardson and Rousseau. I think it was Byron who said that Sterne, "preferred whining over a dead ass to relieving a living mother," but that is a diversion for another trip.
- Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey
Published literally RIGHT before poor Sterne died, this short (and well-received) book is basically a fake travelogue through France and Italy. Yorick plays the part of Sterne's alter-ego. The book is less experimental than The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, but still a joy. It seems to exude both a bit of Richardson and Rousseau. I think it was Byron who said that Sterne, "preferred whining over a dead ass to relieving a living mother," but that is a diversion for another trip.
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August 7, 2024I was a bit hesitant when I started this novel. I had previously tried Sterne’s best-known work, Tristam Shandy (published in 1767), and that was a tough job. Satirical, hilarious and ironic, sure, but also pompous and especially verbose due to his constant digressions. I was afraid that this Sentimental Journey would suffer from that as well. But that turned out not to be the case. Not only is this book much shorter (it remained unfinished due to Sterne’s premature death), but the author also stays on point a bit better. Yet once again the ‘compulsive talkativeness’ of the chatterbox Sterne is noticeable; it’s his trademark, so to speak. The picaresque slant (again with explicit references to Rabelais and Cervantes) is also present, including the excessive use of 'double entendre'. But, as I said, this book is more homogeneous.
To be clear: of course this is not really a travelogue as we know it today. Sterne does report on his stay in Calais and Paris, and his departure from there to Northern Italy, but that is only a peg to talk about the amusing things that happen to him, and especially about the feelings this all evokes. This stress on emotions (or presumed emotions) is striking: Sterne highlights his feelings and those of his fellow travelers at every opportunity, so it is not without reason that the title contains the word ‘sentimental’. I read in some reviews that this was intentional, as a resistance to the materialistic-mechanistic vision of Enlightenment philosophers (l’homme machine’). A regularly cited quote at the end of the book, “I am positive I have a soul; nor can all the books with which materialists have pestered the world ever convince me of the contrary”, even explicitly refers to this. In that sense, this book certainly is also interesting from a historical point of view, i.e. the evolution of ideas and mentality. And what about the reading pleasure? That is certainly there, at least in the strongly ironically charged scenes. But the 18th century vocabulary (really very different from ours) and the sometimes very contrived sentence constructions are a threshold, especially if you want to read this in the original version.
To be clear: of course this is not really a travelogue as we know it today. Sterne does report on his stay in Calais and Paris, and his departure from there to Northern Italy, but that is only a peg to talk about the amusing things that happen to him, and especially about the feelings this all evokes. This stress on emotions (or presumed emotions) is striking: Sterne highlights his feelings and those of his fellow travelers at every opportunity, so it is not without reason that the title contains the word ‘sentimental’. I read in some reviews that this was intentional, as a resistance to the materialistic-mechanistic vision of Enlightenment philosophers (l’homme machine’). A regularly cited quote at the end of the book, “I am positive I have a soul; nor can all the books with which materialists have pestered the world ever convince me of the contrary”, even explicitly refers to this. In that sense, this book certainly is also interesting from a historical point of view, i.e. the evolution of ideas and mentality. And what about the reading pleasure? That is certainly there, at least in the strongly ironically charged scenes. But the 18th century vocabulary (really very different from ours) and the sometimes very contrived sentence constructions are a threshold, especially if you want to read this in the original version.
April 24, 2012
For those curious as to Sterne’s “other thing” besides Tristram Shandy, let me make it clear: no, this is not another spearheading postmodern masterpiece. This is a vicaresque (ha—see what I did there?) travelogue narrated by the curious Yorick, a man of questionable virtue. The chapters are bitesize but thin-in-content, making it pleasant to read if not altogether interesting—a few semi-comic mishaps befall the narrator, and the Tobias Smollett parodies are amusing too. The novel does lean towards the sentimental—sketches where the reader is asked to extend their pity towards suffering French beggars and so on. Nothing here disproves my theory that English Literature kicks into gear in the readability stakes post-1799 (yes, with exceptions—keep yer hair on). Also somewhat snagworthy are the frequent French phrases used—I had to keep thumbing back to the endnotes. Nice cameo from Toby Shandy, however. And a perfectly charming read otherwise. But not essential.
November 23, 2009
Honestly, if I could rate this lower than a star I would.
March 26, 2021
Nadería sentimental. Vueltas y vueltas para buscar excusas y excusas con las que autoengañarse y maquillar que lo único que persigue en sus vericuetos por Francia es saciar su apetito sexual.
February 4, 2012
When I read the negative reviews of this book, I have to guess that people just didn't get it. It's very funny. It's about an upper class young man's erotic adventures in France. He writes as if he's very chaste, but he keeps finding himself in compromising situations with beautiful women and he falls victim to his passions. Don't condemn him unless you've been in an identical situation. Yorrick loves women--All women. It's not all spelled out. You have to read between the lines to know what's really going on. When he and the young lady sit on the foot of the bed and the chapter abruptly ends; that means he got laid. It's just not explicit or anatomical enough for our modern sensibilities to figure out what's going on. It's the whole point of the book. It's why it's funny. The humor isn't cynical either, which is very hard for our jaded modern mentality to grasp. It's more innocent slapstick.
The language is some of the roughest I've read this side of Shakespeare, and the first few pages seemed impenetrable at first, but if one wades bravely in, taking the time to disentangle the sentences, and armed with a good dictionary: The book will pay off. It really is sentimental too. The starling episode in the hotel really got to me. Five stars.
The language is some of the roughest I've read this side of Shakespeare, and the first few pages seemed impenetrable at first, but if one wades bravely in, taking the time to disentangle the sentences, and armed with a good dictionary: The book will pay off. It really is sentimental too. The starling episode in the hotel really got to me. Five stars.
October 13, 2009
Written in the rambling, laconic but clearly deliberate and perfectly modulated style which Sterne got down to a fine art in ‘Tristram Shandy’, ‘A Sentimental Journey’ is the loose journal of the lonely and very English Parson Yorick on a trip through France in the mid-Eighteenth century.
The book is made up of short chapters sub-titled ‘The Monk – Calais’, ‘The Husband – Paris’, ‘The Passport – Versailles’, etc. Yorick has a keen and self-deprecating sense of humour and is always trying to be polite and do what he thinks is correct in the particular circumstances in which he finds himself.
When he flirts a little with a young lady in Calais, he spends so long in an agony of indecision over whether he should ask her name and where she’s from that a ‘French debonaire captain, who came dancing down the street’ goes straight up to her and elicits the information. ‘Had I served seven years’ apprenticeship to good-breeding, I could not have done as much,’ Yorick notes ruefully and admiringly. It is hard to overcome his natural English reticence.
But Yorick, rather like Shirley Valentine, has an open mind and is up for anything. He sums up his attitude himself: ‘what a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in every thing’.
My 1948 edition contains delightful line drawings by Brian Robb, which give Yorick a mischievously adventurous personality. Yorick is indeed rather like the wood-cut Hero of the ‘Passionate Journey’ – embracing life and new experiences as they present themselves. There is plenty of self-questioning here but no morbidity, no depression. We can’t help loving Parson Yorick and wishing him the best.
Yorick’s journey through France is our journey through life. It is full of bittersweet, small-scale adventures. This is not Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews: there are no duels, sexual conquests or battlefields. The scale is more gentle and human, and yet we are left feeling that Sterne has touched the core of human nature in his roundabout way, and caught something of the Joycean joy in everyday things, and something of their sadness and transience.
In Robb’s illustrations, Yorick is often accompanied by images of mortality, such as when he is seen gaily driving past a milestone with a skull resting against it – waving his hat at us as he goes galloping along - or in the frontispiece, where above his portrait is a skull rapturously smelling a bunch of flowers. Gather rosebuds while ye may, for life is all too short. This is Yorick’s, and our, passionate journey. The last illustration, with Yorick leaving a darkened room, is our farewell to him and his century. The novel leaves you feeling reconciled with human nature, and it deserves to be read more.
As John Cowper Powys says in his introduction: ‘…it is only by carrying this book about with you until you know its indescribable fits and starts by heart that you will touch the edge of the evasive secret of the most natural, the most careless, and yet the most self-conscious of all our great stylists’.
The book is made up of short chapters sub-titled ‘The Monk – Calais’, ‘The Husband – Paris’, ‘The Passport – Versailles’, etc. Yorick has a keen and self-deprecating sense of humour and is always trying to be polite and do what he thinks is correct in the particular circumstances in which he finds himself.
When he flirts a little with a young lady in Calais, he spends so long in an agony of indecision over whether he should ask her name and where she’s from that a ‘French debonaire captain, who came dancing down the street’ goes straight up to her and elicits the information. ‘Had I served seven years’ apprenticeship to good-breeding, I could not have done as much,’ Yorick notes ruefully and admiringly. It is hard to overcome his natural English reticence.
But Yorick, rather like Shirley Valentine, has an open mind and is up for anything. He sums up his attitude himself: ‘what a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in every thing’.
My 1948 edition contains delightful line drawings by Brian Robb, which give Yorick a mischievously adventurous personality. Yorick is indeed rather like the wood-cut Hero of the ‘Passionate Journey’ – embracing life and new experiences as they present themselves. There is plenty of self-questioning here but no morbidity, no depression. We can’t help loving Parson Yorick and wishing him the best.
Yorick’s journey through France is our journey through life. It is full of bittersweet, small-scale adventures. This is not Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews: there are no duels, sexual conquests or battlefields. The scale is more gentle and human, and yet we are left feeling that Sterne has touched the core of human nature in his roundabout way, and caught something of the Joycean joy in everyday things, and something of their sadness and transience.
In Robb’s illustrations, Yorick is often accompanied by images of mortality, such as when he is seen gaily driving past a milestone with a skull resting against it – waving his hat at us as he goes galloping along - or in the frontispiece, where above his portrait is a skull rapturously smelling a bunch of flowers. Gather rosebuds while ye may, for life is all too short. This is Yorick’s, and our, passionate journey. The last illustration, with Yorick leaving a darkened room, is our farewell to him and his century. The novel leaves you feeling reconciled with human nature, and it deserves to be read more.
As John Cowper Powys says in his introduction: ‘…it is only by carrying this book about with you until you know its indescribable fits and starts by heart that you will touch the edge of the evasive secret of the most natural, the most careless, and yet the most self-conscious of all our great stylists’.
July 3, 2022
No es el Tristram Shandy, que es por lo que queremos tanto a Sterne, pero igualmente se nota que era un cachondo mental.
May 26, 2021
Considerada una de las primeras obras del género de escritura de viajes, Viaje sentimental a través de Francia e Italia, se hizo prominente en el siglo XVIII por el escritor Laurance Sterne, publicada en dos volúmenes en 1768. Este género de viaje puso su vista en la observación y descripción de los modales, costumbres y carácter de los países visitados. Cabe destacar que Sterne tenía planes de publicar cuatro volúmenes, pero la muerte lo sorprendió, por eso no hay una sección Italia, sino una sección donde Francia es la protagonista de los viajes.
Mientas, que en el libro Tristram Shardy, era el principal personaje de la misma, en esta ocasión, esta novela es narrada por el reverendo Yorick, quien también es citado en la antes mencionada. Un viajero impetuoso que parta a Francia en un arrebato, un ingles cautivado por la sociedad francesa donde describirá su entrono extranjero. Es un novela que tiene mucho de la experiencia de Sterne, ya que este fue influenciado por su viaje a Francia y Nápoles en 1965 en compañía de un partido diplomático que se dirigía a Turín. Yorick de manera astuta representa ante los lectores ingenuos como el alter ego disfrazado de Sterne, donde enfatiza las discusiones subjetivas del gusto y los sentimientos personales, los modales y la moral sobre el aprendizaje clásico.
Un texto contado por un narrador de una profunda autoconciencia, con tendencia disgregadora, ya sea por incluir una anécdota, un fragmento de una historia o un pasaje de reflexión. Un personaje que de inicio clasifica en categorías a los viajeros. Creo como estimulo comparativo el comportamiento social entre dos países atendiendo al manejo de las circunstancias del momento.
En lo personal, no creo que este texto sea superior a Tristram Shandy, lo veo mas orgánico, donde te lleva de un punto A a un punto B, sin ningún preocupación de hacerte desviar del objetivo que quiere darte a saber el narrador, que relatar sus diversas aventuras, generalmente amorosa. Es menos excéntrico y con un estilo, si algo elegante que Tristam Shandy. Yorick es en realidad un hombre de sentimiento, pero uno en quien la naturaleza ha tejido tanto su red de bondad, que algunos hilos de amor y deseo están enredado. Un narrador que viaja para ser cambiado por el mundo y la gente en él, dejar que el mundo vea lo que sientes y cambiar para mejor son obligatorio, sin importar que tipo de viajero seas. Yorick confía a un conde francés y compañero amante de Shakespeare que no ha visto "el Palacio Real, ni el Luxemburgo, ni la fachada del Louvre". El suyo es un "viaje tranquilo del corazón en busca de la Naturaleza y aquellos afectos que surgen de ella, que nos hacen amarnos unos a otros, y al mundo mejor que nosotros". Viaja para reunirse con extraños, para "espiar la desnudez de sus corazones, y a través de los diferentes disfraces de costumbre, climas y religión, descubrir lo que es bueno en ellos para forjar los míos".
Mientas, que en el libro Tristram Shardy, era el principal personaje de la misma, en esta ocasión, esta novela es narrada por el reverendo Yorick, quien también es citado en la antes mencionada. Un viajero impetuoso que parta a Francia en un arrebato, un ingles cautivado por la sociedad francesa donde describirá su entrono extranjero. Es un novela que tiene mucho de la experiencia de Sterne, ya que este fue influenciado por su viaje a Francia y Nápoles en 1965 en compañía de un partido diplomático que se dirigía a Turín. Yorick de manera astuta representa ante los lectores ingenuos como el alter ego disfrazado de Sterne, donde enfatiza las discusiones subjetivas del gusto y los sentimientos personales, los modales y la moral sobre el aprendizaje clásico.
Un texto contado por un narrador de una profunda autoconciencia, con tendencia disgregadora, ya sea por incluir una anécdota, un fragmento de una historia o un pasaje de reflexión. Un personaje que de inicio clasifica en categorías a los viajeros. Creo como estimulo comparativo el comportamiento social entre dos países atendiendo al manejo de las circunstancias del momento.
En lo personal, no creo que este texto sea superior a Tristram Shandy, lo veo mas orgánico, donde te lleva de un punto A a un punto B, sin ningún preocupación de hacerte desviar del objetivo que quiere darte a saber el narrador, que relatar sus diversas aventuras, generalmente amorosa. Es menos excéntrico y con un estilo, si algo elegante que Tristam Shandy. Yorick es en realidad un hombre de sentimiento, pero uno en quien la naturaleza ha tejido tanto su red de bondad, que algunos hilos de amor y deseo están enredado. Un narrador que viaja para ser cambiado por el mundo y la gente en él, dejar que el mundo vea lo que sientes y cambiar para mejor son obligatorio, sin importar que tipo de viajero seas. Yorick confía a un conde francés y compañero amante de Shakespeare que no ha visto "el Palacio Real, ni el Luxemburgo, ni la fachada del Louvre". El suyo es un "viaje tranquilo del corazón en busca de la Naturaleza y aquellos afectos que surgen de ella, que nos hacen amarnos unos a otros, y al mundo mejor que nosotros". Viaja para reunirse con extraños, para "espiar la desnudez de sus corazones, y a través de los diferentes disfraces de costumbre, climas y religión, descubrir lo que es bueno en ellos para forjar los míos".
August 13, 2023
Having been blown away by Tristram Shandy I had high hopes for this one, but despite a similarly engaging/humorous tone/voice, rather lacking in substance, with the episodes being disappointingly mundane and not even always travel/France-related (which surely should've been the point).
January 20, 2022
Schön war es, empfindsam mit Yorick und La Fleur durch Frankreich und ein ganz bisschen Italien zu reisen. Die ebenfalls enthaltene Fortsetzung durch Freundeshand habe ich mir jedoch erspart.
September 7, 2025
I found "Sentimental Journey" to be a much more enjoyable read than Tristram Shandy was. There's a lot less deviation from the main story. Unfortunately, Sterne never got to finish this novel before his death and leaves the story in the middle of a pretty funny anecdote. I probably would have given the book a higher rating if it had been completed.
Next "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" novel: "The Man Of Feeling" by Henry Mckenzie (1771).
Next "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" novel: "The Man Of Feeling" by Henry Mckenzie (1771).
November 25, 2017
Much like The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, this is a fun romp filled with sarcasm directed at the grand tour. I recommend it only, be warned, if you thing YA cliffhangers are bad, wait till you get a load at this one.
did-not-finish
August 19, 2023I really tried. Reading by myself and listening to an audiobook. I have seen Sterne's wittiness, yet I couldn't get through the language. At least, not this time. I will like to try it some other time.
May 14, 2007
The other major Sterne work. And though much shorter, I don't know if I would recommend it to read first. The complexity of this book is not immediately evident (which makes it all the more fantastic for me). I think it gains in greatness with its comparison to Tristram Shandy.
On its own, though, I think it might make an interesting read. It is largely credited for starting the sentimental fiction subgenre - which can be a bit unfair to the book, since sentimental fiction is marked by ridiculous mawkish emotion. But Sentimental Journey rarely falls into such mawkishness. Rather, Sterne does an admirable job at balancing sincere emotion and irony around his rather peculiar travelling preacher Yorick who has decided to take a trip through France and Italy. Sterne is writing in the mode of travel fiction which was all the rage at the time. Sterne's twist, though, is that he focuses on the people of the towns he visits, rather than the places there.
A fascinating aspect of this work is the apology the preacher Yorick gives for the pleasures of the world. He is an endearing human character in love with the world (or, perhaps, the women of the world).
Again, I don't know if I would recommend this without reservation. I think it earns its five stars based on reflection and in its relation to Sterne's other work and its place in eighteenth century literature. All the same, I know many readers would find some incredibly sweet and touching moments in this book.
On its own, though, I think it might make an interesting read. It is largely credited for starting the sentimental fiction subgenre - which can be a bit unfair to the book, since sentimental fiction is marked by ridiculous mawkish emotion. But Sentimental Journey rarely falls into such mawkishness. Rather, Sterne does an admirable job at balancing sincere emotion and irony around his rather peculiar travelling preacher Yorick who has decided to take a trip through France and Italy. Sterne is writing in the mode of travel fiction which was all the rage at the time. Sterne's twist, though, is that he focuses on the people of the towns he visits, rather than the places there.
A fascinating aspect of this work is the apology the preacher Yorick gives for the pleasures of the world. He is an endearing human character in love with the world (or, perhaps, the women of the world).
Again, I don't know if I would recommend this without reservation. I think it earns its five stars based on reflection and in its relation to Sterne's other work and its place in eighteenth century literature. All the same, I know many readers would find some incredibly sweet and touching moments in this book.
September 23, 2015
There is so much irreverent humour in this book and so much of the ridiculous that it's almost like a precursor to Monty Python. Yorick, (The sentimental traveller) sets off on his journey to France in a fit of pique, after taking offence at the offhand remark of one of his acquaintances. It only occurs to him after the fact that (a) he does not have a passport and (b) Britain and France are at war, which might render travel difficult for him. But Yorick is not cast down for long - via a method of flattery and making love to any lady he happens across, he manages to get across France (although in a very Sterne-ian moment, the traveller on this "Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy" never actually quite makes it to the second country in the title). I LOVED the bit with the Monk begging for alms, who he stubbornly resolves not to give anything to (and the embarrassment this later causes him when he's trying to impress a beautiful French woman). Despite the 18th century prose and many biblical and classical allusions in this text, which can make it a little difficult at times, there is so much humour, that I was laughing out loud. Using the language of Radcliffe's Udolpho, Yorick's strange and surreal travels are definitely worth a look for fans of the 18th century.
August 23, 2020
A book about a young man's travels, published in 1768.
Though this book was a bit tedious and dragged on about trivial events some, but nevertheless, I found it highly entertaining and funny. The writing style is decisively 18th Century, which I adored. As a warning, however, if you are not well versed in the language and customs of the 1700's, I would advise that you approach this book with a guide of some sort, to save yourself a headache.
All the scenes that involved women were hilarious. The book was overly dramatic and flowery. I am still unsure whether this was because the author intended his over dramatizing to be funny, or because little things such as holding a woman's hand were so exaggerated back then, or a bit of both. Whatever Laurence Sterne's intentions, reading about it in the 21st century was entertaining. I laughed so hard, and really had fun reading this book aloud to my sisters.
Although the ending confused me more than a bit, I loved it! Even though it wasn't actually meant to be the books conclusion (Sterne died before he could complete it) I still thought it fit the rest of the story's random comedy just perfectly.
Though this book was a bit tedious and dragged on about trivial events some, but nevertheless, I found it highly entertaining and funny. The writing style is decisively 18th Century, which I adored. As a warning, however, if you are not well versed in the language and customs of the 1700's, I would advise that you approach this book with a guide of some sort, to save yourself a headache.
All the scenes that involved women were hilarious. The book was overly dramatic and flowery. I am still unsure whether this was because the author intended his over dramatizing to be funny, or because little things such as holding a woman's hand were so exaggerated back then, or a bit of both. Whatever Laurence Sterne's intentions, reading about it in the 21st century was entertaining. I laughed so hard, and really had fun reading this book aloud to my sisters.
Although the ending confused me more than a bit, I loved it! Even though it wasn't actually meant to be the books conclusion (Sterne died before he could complete it) I still thought it fit the rest of the story's random comedy just perfectly.
April 3, 2022
This is the story of Yorick, a sentimental traveller, who on a whim decides to journey from England first to France and then head towards Turin in Italy. His journey takes him via Calais, Amiens, Rennes, and Versailles to Paris.
Yorick doesn't describe his impressions of the places he visits, the monuments, the architecture or much of the countryside. He regales the reader with stories of the people he meets along the way.
The book tells us more about the effect the journey is having on the central character than about the places the central character is visiting. There's two journeys taking place and it's difficult to know which is the more fascinating.
If you're expecting a travelogue then Yorick makes it clear early on that you're not going to get that kind of book.
Yorick doesn't describe his impressions of the places he visits, the monuments, the architecture or much of the countryside. He regales the reader with stories of the people he meets along the way.
The book tells us more about the effect the journey is having on the central character than about the places the central character is visiting. There's two journeys taking place and it's difficult to know which is the more fascinating.
If you're expecting a travelogue then Yorick makes it clear early on that you're not going to get that kind of book.
May 22, 2016
This book is a real treasure! It's just amazing!
I laughed a lot and I thought a lot about its deep ideas and arguments.
It represents a fight between the "clay-cold heads" and the "Luke-warm hearts"!
I truly enjoyed reading it. It's different and unique.
I recommend it.
I'm also really excited to read Sterne's other famous book Tristram Shandy :) I'll start reading it soon :)
November 24, 2008
I'm happy that this book was so short because I did not like reading it. Perhaps the story was good but the style that it was told in made it so difficult to read and understand what was going on that I got frustrated by it.
January 24, 2022
Ein herrlicher Lesegenuss!
August 30, 2023
You shouldn't expect the author of Tristram Shandy to be anything like conventional, and this gentle mockery and undercutting of both travel memoirs and the contemporary vogue of Sentimentality (precursor of full-blown Romanticism) does its job well.
There's no plot and pretty much no fully delineated character, apart from Yorick himself - and even he appears to have a completely different opinion of himself and his actions than are portrayed within this slim novel.
What we get are Yorick's thoughts and diary-like reminiscences of his journey through France (in the two volumes written and published before Sterne's death we don't get to Italy), where he waxes often about the virtues of charity and how generously he will give money to the poor beggars and worthy cases he comes across, before being distracted each time before money can change hands by a pretty girl. For a vicar, Yorick is internally interested in the ladies, while always insisting on the purest of thoughts and intentions. However, the book ends in the middle of a sentence, with Yorick's hand in that of a young Fille de Chambre in a bedroom in the middle of a dark stormy night ...
But with the purest of thoughts ...
There's no plot and pretty much no fully delineated character, apart from Yorick himself - and even he appears to have a completely different opinion of himself and his actions than are portrayed within this slim novel.
What we get are Yorick's thoughts and diary-like reminiscences of his journey through France (in the two volumes written and published before Sterne's death we don't get to Italy), where he waxes often about the virtues of charity and how generously he will give money to the poor beggars and worthy cases he comes across, before being distracted each time before money can change hands by a pretty girl. For a vicar, Yorick is internally interested in the ladies, while always insisting on the purest of thoughts and intentions. However, the book ends in the middle of a sentence, with Yorick's hand in that of a young Fille de Chambre in a bedroom in the middle of a dark stormy night ...
But with the purest of thoughts ...
Read
April 19, 2025Idk what I just read tbh.
November 29, 2024
IM FREE!!!!! WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY FUCKING LIFE
June 21, 2017
Almost exactly 100 years before Mark Twain gave us his travel book, Innocence Abroad; Laurence Sterne made this a popular genre with A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy. The Grand Tour of Europe was in its early years and was mostly for the wealthy. Sterne made such a trip and having met the grumpy Tobias Smollett he made this much lighter reply to those who could not manage to enjoy their travel. In an aside he dubs Smollett: Smelfungus condemning and satirizing hi co-traveler.
For this narrative Sterne creates a body double for himself, the Rev Yorick, as in “Alas Poor Yorick”, the man of infinite jest and diserrment in Hamlet. The typical travel book of this time concerned itself with the fine arts, museums and churches. The Rev Yorick cannot seem to avoid more or less innocent entanglements with a new lady almost every day. Married as our traveler is he seems to spend much of his time walking with pretty young ladies. Wither he is checking the pulse of a beautiful grisette in her glove shop, with the passive, passing approval of her husband or he tumbles into bed with a fille de chamber. This is not Moll Flanders or Barry London. That is the Rev is not making a Rakes’ Progress. Our hero is a man given to flirtations but, if we are to believe him no thought to engaging in a tryst or an affaire d’amour.
Be advised that there is much untranslated French throughout the text, including a letter he copies from a drummer to a Corporal’s wife. It is clearly a billet doux and one wonders how he can use it without understanding its scandalous intent.
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy is something between a short story and a novella. Its abrupt ending is something of a pun. Sterne makes reference to his earlier work: Tristram Shandy, leading some to imagine it as a sequel. This is a standalone bagatelle. Light of heart and like the earlier work mostly pointless. This is what we expect of Sterne and he is so good it.
For this narrative Sterne creates a body double for himself, the Rev Yorick, as in “Alas Poor Yorick”, the man of infinite jest and diserrment in Hamlet. The typical travel book of this time concerned itself with the fine arts, museums and churches. The Rev Yorick cannot seem to avoid more or less innocent entanglements with a new lady almost every day. Married as our traveler is he seems to spend much of his time walking with pretty young ladies. Wither he is checking the pulse of a beautiful grisette in her glove shop, with the passive, passing approval of her husband or he tumbles into bed with a fille de chamber. This is not Moll Flanders or Barry London. That is the Rev is not making a Rakes’ Progress. Our hero is a man given to flirtations but, if we are to believe him no thought to engaging in a tryst or an affaire d’amour.
Be advised that there is much untranslated French throughout the text, including a letter he copies from a drummer to a Corporal’s wife. It is clearly a billet doux and one wonders how he can use it without understanding its scandalous intent.
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy is something between a short story and a novella. Its abrupt ending is something of a pun. Sterne makes reference to his earlier work: Tristram Shandy, leading some to imagine it as a sequel. This is a standalone bagatelle. Light of heart and like the earlier work mostly pointless. This is what we expect of Sterne and he is so good it.
May 19, 2014
Writing a review in the evening feels weird. I'm so used to getting up, having breakfast, sitting down in front of the computer, and, if I've finished a book the day before, just letting whatever's on my mind about said book spill onto the page. But this week, I'm having to leave the house an hour early, so welcome to a special evening edition of Megan's Reviews.
The Sentimental Journey was slight, enjoyable, and baffling. I take it from the footnotes that many of the chapters are in-jokes, direct rebuttals or satires of other travel narratives from the 18th century. However, I've never read any other travel narratives of the 18th century, so those references fly over my head with startling regularity.
Perhaps, sometimes down the line, when I have read Tristram Shandy and others, I'll come back to this book, and see if I get more out of it.
But without that context, all I can say is that this was easy to read, mildly entertaining, but incredibly slight. An Englishman expounds on the proper way to travel, meets people, sleeps with some women, and almost gets thrown in the Bastille. It is not plot heavy. Or character heavy.
If you know more than me about the time period and this genre, I would probably recommend it. If, like me, this is entirely new, I can't really say you should try it.
The Sentimental Journey was slight, enjoyable, and baffling. I take it from the footnotes that many of the chapters are in-jokes, direct rebuttals or satires of other travel narratives from the 18th century. However, I've never read any other travel narratives of the 18th century, so those references fly over my head with startling regularity.
Perhaps, sometimes down the line, when I have read Tristram Shandy and others, I'll come back to this book, and see if I get more out of it.
But without that context, all I can say is that this was easy to read, mildly entertaining, but incredibly slight. An Englishman expounds on the proper way to travel, meets people, sleeps with some women, and almost gets thrown in the Bastille. It is not plot heavy. Or character heavy.
If you know more than me about the time period and this genre, I would probably recommend it. If, like me, this is entirely new, I can't really say you should try it.
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