A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy is a novel by Laurence Sterne, written and first published in 1768, as Sterne was facing death. In 1765, Sterne travelled through France and Italy as far south as Naples, and after returning determined to describe his travels from a sentimental point of view. The novel can be seen as an epilogue to the possibly unfinished work "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman", and also as an answer to Tobias Smollett's decidedly unsentimental "Travels Through France and Italy". Sterne had met Smollett during his
British literature of Wakefield" (1766), a pastoral poem "The Deserted Village" (1770) and two plays, "The Good-Natur'd Man" 1768 and "She Stoops to Conquer" 1773. Sheridan was born in Dublin, but his family moved to England in the 1750s. His first play, "The Rivals" 1775, was performed at Covent Garden and was an instant success. He went on to become the most significant London playwright of the late 18th century with plays like "The School for Scandal" and "The Critic". Sterne published his famous novel "Tristram Shandy" in parts between 1759 and 1767. The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is