|
E211: British Literature to 1760 Laurence Sterne Study Questions Alfred J. Drake. Office: Hum. 520 | W 3-4 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com A Sentimental Journey 1. What seems to be the attitude of our narrator Yorick regarding the value of travel, both for the individual and for humankind generally? What relationship between "sentiment" (character, moral feelings, etc.) and travel does this book suggest? To what extent would you say this book is a serious instance of travel narrative, and to what extent is Sterne just having fun with this popular and highly regarded genre? 2. How does the narrator deal with the causes of his feelings and his conduct towards others? How is his narrative indebted to the prevalent doctrine of "the association of ideas" as we have discussed it in class? In what sense, that is, does Sterne make fun of this doctrine, without necessarily denying its validity? 3. Sterne said that criticisms of Tristram Shandy led him to write something more innocent than that quibblesome book. To what extent might we take A Sentimental Journey as "innocent" in spite of the narrator's references to the sexual feelings aroused by his interaction with the women he meets? What is the suggested relationship, for instance, between high and noble states such as "benevolence" and basic erotic passion? 4. Yorick offers a number of observations about the French people and their language. What view on the whole emerges regarding them? How do French people and their language supposedly differ from the English? What affinities make them kin nonetheless? 5. The travel narrative relies on the eighteenth-century Enlightenment notion that there is such a thing as "universal human nature." That's why travel writers can detail so many differences from one culture and language to another, and yet maintain a sense of intelligibility and narrative coherence. It's tempting to say that Sterne is somehow too modern-tending to believe in such coherence, but in what sense might his narrative not be denying such claims about the existence of "universal human nature"? Edition: Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey and Other Writings. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. ISBN: 0192839969.
|