Description
Book SynopsisLaurence Sterne’s
A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy continues to be as widely read and admired as upon its first appearance. Deemed more accessible than Sterne’s
Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and often assigned as a college text,
A Sentimental Journey has received its share of critical attention, but—unlike
Tristram Shandy—to date it has not been the subject of a dedicated anthology of critical essays. This volume fills that gap with fresh perspectives on Sterne’s novel that will appeal to students and critics alike. Together with an introduction that situates each essay within
A Sentimental Journey’s reception history, and a tailpiece detailing the culmination of Sterne’s career and his death, this volume presents a cohesive approach to this significant text that is simultaneously grounded and revelatory.
Trade Review"This collection brings together a group of distinguished Sterne scholars whose focus on the author’s final publication demonstrates the way new questions, new methodologies, new pairings, and new contexts can invigorate our understanding of Sterne, his world, and his work." -- Elizabeth Kraft * author of Laurence Sterne Revisited *
"The prime virtue of this collection is that it combines more traditional literary approaches with more recent models of literary scholarship, influenced by affect theory, gender studies, animal studies, and thing theory. As such, it stands as a valuable snapshot of Sterne studies in the present." -- Jesse Molesworth * author of Chance and the Eighteenth-Century Novel: Realism, Probability, Magic *
"A welcome addition to criticism on Sterne." * XVII-XVIII *
"The strength of the resulting volume lies not only in the constituent essays, but also in the intelligence and creativity with which Newbould and Gerard have disposed and framed them, setting them in constantly illuminating conversation with one another. In their expert editorial hands,
A Sentimental Journey has never looked so rich in imaginative implication and interpretative possibility." * The Shandean *
"This collection brings together a group of distinguished Sterne scholars whose focus on the author’s final publication demonstrates the way new questions, new methodologies, new pairings, and new contexts can invigorate our understanding of Sterne, his world, and his work." -- Elizabeth Kraft * author of Laurence Sterne Revisited *
"The prime virtue of this collection is that it combines more traditional literary approaches with more recent models of literary scholarship, influenced by affect theory, gender studies, animal studies, and thing theory. As such, it stands as a valuable snapshot of Sterne studies in the present." -- Jesse Molesworth * author of Chance and the Eighteenth-Century Novel: Realism, Probability, Magic *
"A welcome addition to criticism on Sterne." * XVII-XVIII *
"The strength of the resulting volume lies not only in the constituent essays, but also in the intelligence and creativity with which Newbould and Gerard have disposed and framed them, setting them in constantly illuminating conversation with one another. In their expert editorial hands,
A Sentimental Journey has never looked so rich in imaginative implication and interpretative possibility." * The Shandean *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Abbreviations and Conventions
W. B. Gerard and M-C. Newbould, “Introduction:
A Sentimental Journey’s Critical Legacies.”
I. Men, Women, and other Animals
1. Shaun Regan, “Refining Masculinity in Yorick’s
Journey: Courtesy, Chivalry, Gallantry.”
2. Julia Banister, “Yorick’s War: Patriot Politics, Military Men, and Willing Women in
A Sentimental Journey.”
3. Glynis Ridley, “Sterne’s Journey into Animal Affect.”
II. Words, Structures, Things
4. Chris Ewers, “Spatial Digression and the Borders of Knowledge in
A Sentimental Journey.”
5. Alexander Hardie-Forsyth, “(O)economy and Order: Laurence Sterne’s Chaptering.”
6. Fraser Easton, "Yorick's Speech and the Starling's Song: The Limits of Elocution in
A Sentimental Journey"
7. Jennifer Preston Wilson, “Things of the Spirit: Vibrant Matter in
A Sentimental Journey.”
III. Historical Contexts, Rewritten Texts
8. Melvyn New, “Boswell and Sterne in 1768.”
9. Peter Budrin, “The Shadow of Eliza: Sterne’s Underplot in
A Sentimental Journey.”
10. Paul Goring, “Debt, Death, and Literary Inheritance: The Ends of Sterne and
A Sentimental Journey.”
Pat Rogers, “Afterword”
Acknowledgments
Works Cited and Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Contributors
