Summary
Melvyn Bragg examines the 18th century idea of Sensibility. In Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey, the lead character Yorick comforts a young woman who has been abandoned by a little pet goat that had proved as faithless as her lover. Yorick describes her effect upon his ‘sweet sensibility’, “I sat down close by her, and Maria let me wipe the tears away as they fell, with my handkerchief. I then steeped it in my own - and then in hers - and then in mine - and then I wiped hers again - and as I did it, I felt such undescribable emotions within me, as I am sure could not be accounted for from any combinations of matter and motion. (I am positive I have a soul; nor can all the books with which materialists have pestered the world ever convince me to the contrary.)”It seems a bit mawkish to us now but Sterne, Richardson and Mackenzie were all part of the ‘cult of sensibility’ in the eighteenth century which elevated the sentimental novel to the height of literary art. Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Sense and Sensibility, has traditionally been taken as a parody of sensibility. But what caused the rush to emotion that so infused and enthused the Sensibility movement and was Jane Austen really so critical of the expression of feeling?With Claire Tomalin, literary biographer and author of Jane Austen: A Life and The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; John Mullan, Senior Lecturer in English at University College London; Hermione Lee, Goldsmiths Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thanks for downloading the In Our Time Podcast. |
| 0:39.0 | For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co. UK |
| 0:44.3 | forward slash radio for. I hope you enjoy the program. |
| 0:47.2 | Hello in Lawrence Stern's A Sentimental Journey, the lead character |
| 0:50.7 | Yorick comforts a young woman who has been abandoned by a little pet goat |
| 0:54.4 | that had proved as faithless as a lover. |
| 0:57.0 | Yoric describes her effect upon his sweet sensibility in this way. |
| 1:01.4 | I sat down close by her and Mariah let me wipe the tears away as they fell with my |
| 1:06.0 | handkerchief. I then steeped it in my own and then in hers and then in mine and then I wiped hers |
| 1:10.8 | again and as I did it I felt such indescribable emotions within me as I'm sure could not be |
| 1:16.3 | accounted for from any combination of matter and motion. |
| 1:21.1 | It may seem a bit more to us now, but Stern, Richardson and Mackenzie were all part of the |
| 1:25.0 | cult of sensibility in the 18th century, which elevated the sentimental novel to the height of |
| 1:29.4 | literary art. Jane Austen's masterpiece, Sense and Sensibility, has traditionally been taken as a parody of |
| 1:34.9 | sensibility. But what caused the rush to emotion that so infused and infused the |
| 1:39.5 | sensibility movement, and was Jane Austin really so critical of that expression of feeling? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.