Travel literature became, after the novel, the most famous literary genre of the eighteenth century. Thanks to the geographical discoveries made by important navigators of the time, enlightened men were finally able to explore a 'new world' with their imagination. Inevitably, the growing interest in learning about other lands led people to travel the world not only for health reasons, but also for pleasure and to complete their cultural education - this was called the Grand Tour by the English, and became very popular especially among the wealthy classes. In this way people traveled and recorded their experiences in their books, which later became very useful travel literature for those who wanted to know something about the world outside Britain. However, travel books had some important rules that writers had to observe: first, they had to provide a detailed description of the customs and traditions of the countries visited; and second, travel reports must be objective, with no room for the author's impressions. However, in the second half of the century, a real change occurred regarding the 'sentimental novel', and it was Laurence Sterne who wrote his books with 'sentiment'. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne was published in 1768 and is intended to be a satire of traditional travel books in which objectivity was the only protagonist. In this book, in fact, the author presents us with a new protagonist, that is, the feeling of the traveler while traveling around the world. The author then focuses his attention on the sensitivity and impressions of the traveler during his journey through France and Italy. In the first volume Yorick, the protagonist, says that travelers belong to different 'Heads', so we can find 'idle travellers', 'proud' travellers', 'necessity travellers' and so on. However, he does not belong to any of these classes because he is a "[...] Sentimental traveler who travelled, [...] much out of necessity, and for the besoin de Voyager", and that the accounts of his travels will be different from those of others. He therefore highlights the impressions and sensations received from people during the trip, stating that "an Englishman does not travel to see English men", and then focusing on the human relationships originating from his encounters with people from 'France and Italy' - not it is therefore based on the 'practical aspects' of a country that had characterized most traditional travel books. In this way Sterne undermines the traditional rules of the novel, also giving a new meaning to the word 'sentimental' and to the concept of Eros in general. “But what were the temptations, (while I write not to apologize for the weaknesses of my heart on this tour, - but to give an account of it) – will be described with the same simplicity with which I heard them”: Sentimental Journey is full of this veiled Eros made of double meanings, which insinuates itself into the pages of the book and also into our imagination. This was strongly in contrast “with the exaltation of chastity? and of the predicate 'delicacy' as essential in a particular cultural context"; however, it is precisely this kind of cunning that appealed to most readers of that time. “Dress up as you want, more slavery! – yet you are a bitter drink, and even if thousands of people in all ages have been forced to drink from you, you are no less bitter for that”: this is Yorick's thoughts on slavery, one of the most important themes during the Enlightenment. He exclaims these words in the episode of. 1-23