55 pages • 1 hour read
Laurence SterneA Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1768A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 33-41Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapters 33-35 Summary
Yorick attends the opera, asking directions from a woman in a store. As she explains the directions three times, he stares into her eyes and then begins to flirt. She takes his behavior with a “slight courtesy” (33) as he forgets everything she tells him. Eventually, she tells him that a boy will be heading in the direction of the opera house and Yorick can follow him. While they wait for the boy, Yorick begins to feel her pulse.
The shopkeeper’s husband walks in as Yorick is still feeling her pulse. He remarks on the difference between the woman and her husband, which he believes would never happen in London. Before they can sit down again, the boy arrives and Yorick must follow him to the opera.
Before he leaves, the shopkeeper tries to give Yorick a pair of gloves, but none will fit. After staring into one another’s eyes, Yorick declares that “it is no matter” (35) and he takes several pairs of gloves and pays for them, wishing he could pay above the ticket price. He then follows the boy toward the opera district.
Chapters 36-38 Summary
The only person in Yorick’s opera box is a “kindly old French officer” (35). The man reminds him of an old acquaintance, Captain Tobias Shandy. The French officer is reading a small pamphlet. Yorick introduces himself and thinks about the mechanics of human social interaction.
They are joined in the box by a dwarf, which Yorick believes is a more frequent sight in France. He helps the dwarf get a better sight of the orchestra. There is a tall German blocking the dwarf’s view, even after being asked to move. The dwarf is moved in front of the rude German and Yorick applauds what he sees as justice being done.
Yorick returns to his seat beside the French officer and they discuss “some poor Abbe in one of the upper loges” (38), who has been causing a ruckus. The details of the case are, to Yorick, scandalous. The French officer is less shocked and discusses the decline in manners in society.
Chapters 39-41 Summary
On the way home, Yorick decides to purchase a book. After a disagreement with the bookseller over whether the Count de B--- has “read Shakespeare” (39), Yorick notices a young fille de chambre (a chambermaid), who has come to purchase a book, and leaves at the same time as her.
They walk together through Paris; as they are about to part, Yorick learns that she is the chambermaid for Madame R---, “the very lady for whom [Yorick has] brought a letter from Amiens” (40). Yorick pledges to visit the next day, as the woman is eager to receive the letter.
At the hotel, Le Fleur tells Yorick that a police lieutenant has been searching for him. Yorick admits that he knows why: he left London with “so much precipitation” (41) that he forgot to acquire a passport. Because Britain is at war with France, this is an issue. The hotel master tells Yorick that if he cannot acquire a passport, he will be thrown in jail.
Yorick tries to put La Fleur at ease by acting as though the issue is not bothering him. Once La Fleur leaves, Yorick begins “to think a little seriously” (42) about the situation. As he wanders through the hotel, thinking about the Bastille, Yorick hears a bird calling for help. He finds a small starling caught inside a cage and determines to set it free. He fails, however, and returns to his room, the images of the bird and the Bastille staying with him.
Chapters 33-41 Analysis
In Paris, Yorick’s adventures take on a slightly different tone. In the bigger city, most of his mannerisms and foibles are exacerbated. His relentless flirting with every woman, for instance, continues. He flirts with a shopkeeper and a chambermaid, who later emerges to be in the employ of a woman with whom he had been flirting some days before. Yorick’s sexual drive seems almost commonplace and expected within the narrative, though it should be noted that the narrative is told from Yorick’s perspective, and he would therefore want to portray his sexual mores in an acceptable light.
Just as Yorick’s sexuality becomes exacerbated while in Paris, his appreciation for spectacle is similarly heightened. While attending the opera, he watches an incident between a dwarf and a tall man. Though he understands what is going on (and sympathizes with the dwarf), Yorick chooses not to intervene. He remains the objective observer. So convinced is Yorick that dwarves are more common outside of Britain that he even relates a theory from one of his friends that attempts to explain why (in a particularly unscientific manner).
As well as portraying Yorick as a studious observer of foreign life, this incident also functions on a meta-textual level. Though A Sentimental Journey is nominally meant to be a true story (a thinly-disguised biography of Sterne’s own travels), it is important to note that fictional characters from his works appear in A Sentimental Journey as though they were real. Captain Tobias Shandy, who Yorick describes as “the dearest of my flock and friends” (35) appears in Tristram Shandy, a novel also written by Sterne. The name appears frequently throughout the supposed travel guide, creating a dialogue between the two works which seems to heighten the fictional status of A Sentimental Journey, while at the same time lending credibility to the fiction of Tristram Shandy.
Related Titles
By Laurence Sterne
