Published in 1768, just several weeks before Sterne’s death, A Sentimental Journey is a slightly fictionalized rendering of Sterne’s own travels. It is narrated by Parson Yorick, who previously appeared in Sterne’s most famous work, Tristam Shandy. More of a novel than a travelogue, Mr. Yorick;s report of his wanderings satirizes traditional travel books of the day and concentrates, via incident and anecdote, on the people he meets along the way rather than the landscapes and monuments that he sees. Full of comic mishaps, risqué jokes and playful surprises, this sentimental account was very popular in its day and influenced several future novelists, including American Elizabeth Robin Pennell who, in the 1880’s, with her husband, artist Joseph Pennell, undertook the same route via tandem bicycle resulting in the novel Our Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1888).
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