Henry Fielding, The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon

Joshua Grasso (East Central University)

Ed. by Nicholas Seager, University of Keele
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1755

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Guidebooks / Travel writing

Resources

Henry Fielding’s final work, the unclassifiable The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon (1754), is also his boldest experiment in fiction. Part travel narrative and part autobiography, it recounts the author’s desperate attempt to flee to Lisbon before an English winter exacerbates his fatal illness. Somewhat ironically, the book almost never reaches Lisbon at all, as getting from Point A to Point B becomes a maddening exercise in bad weather and cutthroat capitalism. Whether or not the journal was composed spontaneously or after reflection, it shows Fielding coming to a startling realization of travel: that it is entirely at the expense of the traveler. As he writes, “There are many evils in society, from which …

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1665 words

Citation: Grasso, Joshua. "The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=468, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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